Intertwined
by Mydarkside975
Summary: She has a positive mindset, she is ambitious and she cares deeply, not only about people in her life but also about everyone else on the planet. He drowns himself in sex and alcohol to numb his feelings and escape from his thoughts. Their paths cross and what starts as hate soon develops into something completely different. Delena AU/AH
1. A Peaceful Moment

AN: This story is my version of the 'Great Delena Story'. It's AU and set in New York and it's about two people who come from different worlds but are at the same time different yet similar to each other. They both have dark pasts but they choose to handle their burdens differently. Where Elena finds piece in helping others by doing charity or giving yoga lessons, Damon drinks and sleeps around to reach oblivion.

When they first meet things do not go as smoothly as one might wish but as the days go by, we start to question if they just might be each other's salvation.

**Disclaimer: I don't own the vampire diaries or it's characters but I consider the storylines mine. This story is rated M for strong language and sexual content.**

* * *

**Chapter One: A Peaceful Moment**

**Damon**

The first rays of sunshine found their way through the thick curtains of a bedroom. A man and a woman in what appeared to be a passionate embrace shouted their pleasure into the room. However, the passion was a lie and the pleasure only in the flesh. Their moment shared with every other person in the room and in the rest of the mansion. The sound of music surrounded the place and the smell of sex, sweat and liquor lingered in the air. The night was winding down and not many were left standing as their night of sinful self-indulgence was starting to take its toll. All of them in a temporary state of calm satisfaction and most of them did not remember their own names including one person who was the one responsible for the debauchery of the night.

He was lying on a bed surrounded by women, naked women, which was mostly his doing. Their eyes were closed in sleep or glazed and unfocused but he did not notice any of it. In fact, he was not able to notice anything in his state of mind.

This was one of the good nights where he was able to reach this state of complete relaxation. He was able to exhaust his mind so much that his ever-present thoughts could for a moment be drowned by the excessive alcohol and sexual satisfaction. For just this one moment he could breathe freely and feel alive. Soon though the moment would be over and he would have to start chasing the next one. That was always his goal. He lived for this moment.

A sound invaded his peaceful moment and he felt himself getting pulled back to the surface.

"Get out people! The party is over."

It was a voice. His temper started to rise. Who would dare to ruin his moment?

"Thanks Aksel, you can go get rid of the rest now."

"Sure Mr. S."

There was a sound of a door closing and someone sighing.

"When are you going to stop trying to kill yourself brother?"

He felt someone cover him with the bedspread and heard the door opening and closing.

* * *

_Soft brown curls…_

_A sensual touch…_

_A kiss on the lips…_

_Someone laughing, a woman with brown curls and brown eyes that promised endless love and laughter. She was holding something in her arms. Looking closer it was a child; a beautiful boy with brown eyes and hair just like his mother's. _

_His heart welled with love at the sight of them and he held out his hands wanting to hold the little boy, his son. When he touched his baby boy everything shifted. He looked into his eyes but where they were brown and warm now they were white and empty… like death. His heart burned inside his chest and he crumbled and fell to the ground. Small bones fell out of his hands. He wanted to scream but he could not make a sound and he realized that he could not even breathe._

_"__Damon!"_

"Damon! Wake up… it's just a nightmare…please wake up."

The sound of his brother's voice came through the fog in his head along with the incessant shaking. He felt himself getting nauseous and then he realized that he was not breathing. As soon as the realization hit him he opened his mouth gasping for breath.

When his breathing evened out and his heartbeat became closer to normal he could focus on his brother who was sitting on the edge of his bed with a concerned look on his face. He could not take concern. He did not deserve it.

"What are you doing?" His voice was hoarse like he had been screaming for months.

"I'm saving your life brother."

Stefan reached for the nightstand and grabbed a glass of water and two aspirin tablets and held them out to his brother.

When he saw the hangover remedies, Damon immediately felt the pain in his head like it was breaking down the middle. He took them thankfully knowing full well that they would not be enough.

"Giuseppe wants to see you," Stefan told him with a guarded expression.

Damon gave him his most incredulous look not bothering to answer.

"Damon, you have to go see him."

"I don't have to do anything Stefan. I don't owe him anything."

"He's our dad and he lost the…"

"No!" Damon interrupted. "Get out NOW… Get the hell out."

His voice was laced with venom and his eyes shooting daggers as he got out of his bed and walked unsteadily towards the door holding it open forcing his brother to leave. He did not need him. He did not want to be saved.

"Damon, I'm sorry. I did not mean to mention it but please stop punishing yourself." Stefan said with a pleading look before he left closing the door behind him.

Silence filled the room and Damon felt himself starting to suffocate in it. He could not handle silence any more than he could handle his brother's concern. Stefan did not understand though. He was not trying to punish himself, he was too selfish for that. He was trying to find Nirvana. That thought reminded him that he had to start his search for today so he went to the bedside table and pulled out a brand new bottle of bourbon that was to be his sidekick for today's mission.

* * *

**Elena**

"Let your breath be calm and easy while you sink your hips into a warrior two and just breathe for a moment."

The first rays of sunlight fell through the windows onto the smooth surface in the yoga studio where 29 women stood on colored yoga mats stretching their arms and legs while breathing deeply. All of them were facing one woman who was guiding them through the different poses with ease. Her calm voice along with the breathing and slow movement relieving them of all the stress they acquired throughout the week.

She was feeling their eyes on her and the thought of her being the one to relieve them of their stress alleviated her own. This was her escape from and solution to all of her problems. Being in this studio and instructing those people gave her that peace of mind that she could not achieve in her own life.

"Now roll up to stand, one vertebra at a time. Once you arrive take a big inhale to fill you right up…" She took a deep breath while lifting her arms above her head with all of the women following right along.

"… and then as you exhale soften up and just stand with your eyes closed for a moment." She swayed a little on her heels holding her hands together with her thumps touching her chest.

"When you're ready open your eyes… and great job." She watched them open up their eyes, letting go of their concentration and looking at her with open and relaxed faces.

Soon they were all rolling their mats and heading for the exit to go back to the pressures of real life until next week where they would come back to the same yoga studio. Here their faithful yoga instructor would help lessen the pressure or at least help make them strong enough to carry their burdens.

On their way out each and every one of them gave her a pat on the shoulder or a "thank you" for the relaxing morning.

"Today's routine was great, Elena. It felt so good." One of the women pulled her into a tight hug while holding her rolled yoga mat in one hand. She was one of the closest people in this world to her; one of her best friends.

"Thanks Care, I'm happy to hear that," Elena told her returning her hug and gladly accepting the love her friend showered on her. Caroline was the happiest person she knew and she extended her happiness and positive energy to everyone around her. Though, with Elena she seemed to make an exceptional effort to always be her most cheerful self.

"Have you heard from Bonnie?" Elena asked wondering why her other best friend did not make it this morning.

"She got called to the hospital on our way out and she wanted you to make time for some stretching later tonight."

Bonnie was a doctor working in the ER of the local hospital which is why she was really busy all the time and sometimes Elena and Caroline did not see her for days even though they all shared a tiny apartment in Brooklyn. Even with the insane working hours and not so lucrative salary, Bonnie loved her job and was really good at it as well. Nevertheless they missed her and they all missed their time as NYU-students where they had more time to spend with each other.

They had met when Caroline and Elena were in their freshmen year and Bonnie was a junior and a volunteer in the charity organization attached to NYU, they were interested in. Bonnie immediately encouraged them to volunteer and took them under her wing teaching them the arts of fundraising and recruiting new people in her mission to change the world. From then on, they had formed a bond of friendship that only got stronger with time.

"Okay, maybe we can make a night out of it," Elena suggested while they both headed for the showers.

"Sounds great, I'll bring ice-cream," Caroline said excitedly and Elena felt herself getting excited as well at the prospect of a nice girls night with ice-cream and her best friends – in that order.

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AN: Thank you so much for reading. Please be kind and leave a review.


	2. Roses and Wine

AN: I am so happy about your positive response and thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed. I am some chapters ahead so I can update somewhat regularly. Here is the second chapter of my story.

Sincerely

Mydarkside975

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**Chapter two: Roses and Wine**

**Elena**

After some yoga and three packets of ice-cream the girls were lounging in their tiny living room covered in fluffy blankets, each of them holding a glass of wine while listening to Bonnie tell them about one of her patients. He was a homeless man who apparently collapsed from heart failure in the middle of the street and no one cared to go and help him until some police officers patrolling the area found him and drove him to the ER. He was dead by the time they got there.

"They probably thought he was drunk." Caroline said dejectedly taking a sip from her glass.

"I'd bet if it was some guy in a suit collapsing in the middle of the street everyone around would run to the rescue." Bonnie said bitterly.

"If the rich guys in the world shared some of their money, the man would not have been homeless and people would not have assumed he was drunk." Elena added. The somber atmosphere surrounded them as they sat in silence each of them in their own thoughts.

"You know what? This was supposed to be a fun girls' night, so stop with the serious topics and let's do some girl talk." Caroline said wiggling her eyebrows and smiling mischievously.

Bonnie and Elena welcomed the change of topic and recognized Caroline's attempt to make them ask her about her relationship with her boyfriend, Tyler. She was the only one of them currently in a relationship so girl talk was practically code for Caroline gushing about Tyler. They of course fulfilled their duties as best friends and asked her about her relationship and she was happy to fill them in on all the details.

Tyler was a photographer working at the same online magazine as Caroline and Elena who had both graduated with a degree in journalism though they leaned towards different branches. Caroline had gotten a job first at the magazine in the fashion section and when eventually there was an opening at the news section, she helped Elena get an interview. Elena got the job and now they were working together trying to make a name for themselves in the world of journalism. It was easier said than done as the competition was hard and even in their tiny magazine people were doing everything they could to get the best news and get their work published.

"You know, Tyler said he knows someone who could get us into one of those crazy Salvatore parties." Caroline said pulling Elena back from her thoughts.

The whole city was talking about those hush-hush-parties hosted by one of the Salvatore brothers at the mansion he inherited from his late mother. The mansion was in the Hamptons but whenever there was a party everyone who was someone in the city would be there. The whole thing was draped in mystery. It was like; anyone who set foot inside the mansion had to sign a non-disclosure agreement and of course it was the most wanted news and every journalist in town was trying to get a peek inside.

"You're kidding! I thought journalists were banned from those parties." Elena said trying not to get too excited.

"They are, but we can get in there as servants. The guy he knows works for a catering company that serves the Salvatore parties and they need more people."

"But if they found out we're journalists wouldn't he be in trouble because he recommended us?"

"That's okay; he's leaving for Europe next week, so the party on Friday is the last one he'll be serving at."

"That's crazy Care. This opportunity could make our careers."

"I know which is why I told Tyler that I'll do it. So are you in?"

"Of course I'm in… This is amazing!" Elena was nearly jumping up and down on her seat from her excitement. This was it. If she wrote a good article about the Salvatore party, she could finally put her name on the map and then she would be able to do some real work.

"Who is that Salvatore-guy anyway?" Bonnie said finally tired of being left out of the conversation.

"Oh my God… Bonnie! Do you even live in this city?" Caroline exclaimed. Before she started telling her the story of the eldest Salvatore brother, every now and then confirming some of the details with Elena before she went on with the story.

The Salvatore family was one of the most well known in New York City. They owned half the city through their company, Salvatore and Co. Giuseppe Salvatore inherited the company from his father in the early eighties. He dedicated himself to his work trying and succeeding in making his father's baby the number one real estate and construction company in the city.

He was so invested in his work that he refused to get married until he met the world renowned actress Charlie Graham. She was a beauty with her dark locks contrasting her pale complexion but her most mesmerizing feature was her expressive blue eyes that spellbound her audience, watching her on the big screen but also everyone who met her in real life. Giuseppe was no exception; he fell in love with her instantly but what surprised people the most was, that she fell in love with him too, even though she had always been described by her peers as a wild soul who could never giver herself to one person. They got married and had two children, two boys; Damon and Stefan Salvatore.

Damon was the eldest son and the spitting image of his mother complete with the raven hair, light complexion and blue eyes. His younger brother Stefan looked more like his father with brown hair and kind green eyes. They were two golden boys born into a golden family and practically treated like royalty. Their faces were always in the magazines with little arrows pointing out pieces of their clothes that one could buy in that shop or the other.

Not so many years later Charlie was on set filming her latest movie when a terrible accident happened. Part of the set she was working on collapsed and she fell four floors and died before the ambulance could arrive.

Soon thereafter the boys were shipped to boarding school and Giuseppe submerged himself into his work and no one heard any more about them aside from the occasional contact signings or building openings.

Five years ago Damon Salvatore resurfaced freshly graduated from college with an Ivy League business degree and a brand new job in his father's company. The city went wild over the ridiculously handsome Salvatore and he seemed to be basking in his celebrity status. His face was everywhere both in the tabloids and the legitimate magazines, every day with a new girl on his arm. From models and actresses to recognized businesswomen, he seemed to have all of them wrapped around his finger.

He went on like that for years until someday he was spotted with the same girl for more than one day. She was an up and coming actress named Katherine Pierce and people started speculating if history was repeating itself and she was the one to make the famous Damon Salvatore settle down. They kept dating for three months with the paparazzi following them wherever they went then all of a sudden, they disappeared. There was some speculation for a while that they had eloped to get married on some private island or that they started a new life somewhere in Europe where they were not constantly hounded by the paparazzi and shortly people moved on to other, more compelling stories. That was close to three years ago.

A couple of months ago the rumors of the Salvatore parties started and people were intrigued by the secrecy. No one had yet seen Damon Salvatore and there certainly were no new pictures. The only thing people knew for sure was that he hosted those parties and that they were "crazy".

"Wow, that guy sounds horrible." Bonnie said when Caroline finally finished talking.

"Who cares about the guy? This is the most wanted news in the city. When Rebekah finds out we got the inside gossip on the whole thing she's going to go mad with jealousy" Caroline stated. She was in a constant competition with their colleague Rebekah who on her part made it her priority to get anything, Caroline set her sights on, for herself, even the Louboutins, Caroline worked her ass off for months to afford.

"This is our opportunity Bonnie. If we do this right, we can kick our careers off and finally be able to do the work we really like." Elena explained and drank the last drop of wine from her glass.

"Well good luck with your secret mission girls. But I'm going to head to bed now. Goodnight."

"Goodnight" The other two answered before they washed their glasses and went to bed.

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AN: Thanks for reading. Please tell me what you think.


	3. The Great Salvatore

AN: So this is a big chapter guys. I had some inspiration from Gossip Girl and The Great Gatsby when I wrote it so you might find some things you would recognize. Thanks for the reviews and alerts from last time.

Have fun reading.

Mydarkside975

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**Chapter Three: The Great Salvatore**

**Elena**

Tonight was the night. After days of worry, preparation, and secret lunch meetings (to get away from an eavesdropping Rebekah) they were finally on their way to the S. party, as they had dubbed it just in case someone was listening. It was surprisingly easy to get hired by the catering company considering their high-profile clientele but apparently the demand on their services was fast on the rise, thanks to the free advertising they got from their involvement with the S. parties.

They were driving to the mansion in Tyler's old Corona and the tension was high in the confined space. They were excited but at the same time worried, partly because what they were doing was not exactly legal but mostly because this was their chance to carve their paths in the highly competitive world of journalism and they could not afford to blow it. They spent most of the time sitting in silence with the car radio playing in the background so they were a bit startled when Caroline screamed "Oh My God, it's huge!"

In the distance, they could finally see the mansion; a white stone building with gigantic pillars and a front porch big enough to hold a couple of hundred people. The driveway was circular with a stone fountain in the middle. It looked like something from a fairy tale and yet felt off, like all those windows had witnessed some very dark times.

They were instructed to show up at the back entrance, so when they reached the main driveway, they drove past it and turned right to find a small driveway on the side of the mansion that led to the back entrance where there was a parking area for the servants. The whole thing was surreal and Elena hated having to abide by their rules; like servants with old cheap cars were somehow lesser people who therefore had to hide and come in through the back entrance.

Their job was to walk around among the guests serving drinks and canapés so they got to actually see the place, which was exactly what they wanted. When they were dressed in their black and white uniforms and each carrying their tray, the guests were starting to arrive and they got sent out to do their jobs. The mansion was even more impressive from the inside with high ceilings, marble floors and large open rooms with expensive looking paintings on the walls. It all screamed wealth. Elena felt little and unimportant carrying her tray and walking around the huge room like a part of the decor. She was certainly treated like that by the so-called guests who were dressed to the nines but all wore matching white masks that covered more than half their faces. She had no idea why they wore those obviously uncomfortable masks but the night was just starting and she expected to find out soon enough.

The room soon filled up and the trays were getting emptied faster. The guests were standing in groups and chatting, jazzy music playing in the background when the lights suddenly dimmed and several people wearing different colored costumes and carrying lanterns that matched their outfits filed into the room. The guests broke up in groups each following one of the lantern people to different parts of the mansion.

During the night Elena got to see what was happening in some of the rooms. She found out that the lantern people led the guests to different stations where they got to experience live performances like dramatic scenes, dance or just abstract performance art pieces. She recognized one or two professional Broadway actors (none of the performers wore masks) and knew it must have cost a fortune to hire all those people. From what she could make out, the performances were great and the guests were getting exponentially excited evident by their louder clapping at the end of every performance. Nevertheless Elena could not wait to get out of there as the extravagant feel of it all started to suffocate her.

Fortunately she soon got replaced by another servant to go have her break. She immediately headed for a door to get some air. When she stepped outside, she found herself standing on the back porch facing a huge well-tended garden with a pool area as the center piece. Everything in this place was so big in an uncomfortable kind of lonely way that she missed their little apartment in Brooklyn. She took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves but got startled when someone spoke to her in a velvety voice.

"You seem tired."

She turned around and saw a guy leaning on the wall behind her. She could not make out his face in the darkness but he was not wearing a mask so she assumed he was one of the performers.

"I'm fine," she answered and leaned on a pillar next to her. She was looking at the pool and the surrounding grounds that stretched on for miles.

"So what do you think?" He said after a pause.

"about what?" She said trying to avoid the question.

"about the party," he said unflinchingly.

"How do you know it is my first time?" She was starting to deflect but had no idea why she felt herself compelled to do that. Maybe she just did not want to hurt his feelings because he was a part of the entertainment, she thought.

"You look overwhelmed." He said.

"Well, you got me."

"So what do you think about it?" Man, that guy was persistent, she thought contemplating whether to tell him what he wanted to hear.

The air had an early spring kind of chill to it. It was refreshing. She watched the moonlight reflection in the dark water of the pool. "Honestly, I think it's an obnoxious show of excess by someone who's clearly lacking in the personal department," she burst out before she could stop herself. She took a deep breath and hoped he would not take it personally. She felt him move to stand next to her and they stood there in silence for a minute.

"Don't get me wrong, the performances are beautiful and the artists are great but the outrageous amount of money spent on one night, the impersonal feel of the huge mansion and the creepy white masks, set my teeth on edge."

She did not know why she just said all of that to a complete stranger but she had been keeping all of those thoughts inside and Caroline was nowhere to be found so the poor guy had to endure her rant. In her defense though, he was the one who kept asking.

"You think the masks are creepy?"

Seriously, that was the only point he wanted to address, she thought.

"Yeah, well what do you think?" She asked looking at the dark shape of his profile.

He hesitated for a moment. "I think that you might be judging someone too harshly even though you don't know him. Yes, he could be a self-absorbed ass but maybe he has his reasons."

Elena felt the heat rush to her face from the anger that started simmering in her veins. Who did he think he was to talk to her like that?

"Well of course you would defend him when he's the one paying you." She spit out failing to reign in her emotions.

At her words he snapped his face and looked her right in the eyes. At that same moment, the lights inside the mansion were turned on and the beam of light landed on him, illuminating his face. Elena could not contain her gasp as she found herself staring into infinite blue eyes that nearly drowned her in their intensity.

"Well, I'm the one paying you and I think you should leave."

After he uttered those words she left. She left the porch and then she left the whole mansion heading to the Corona which they had agreed to leave unlocked in case something like this happened.

She could not believe how stupid, she was not to notice. She just had a whole conversation with _The_ Damon Salvatore and he was every bit the entitled prick everyone thought he was. Yes, she had insulted him first but she really had no idea. What a stupid situation she had put herself in, she thought. She did not even last half the night and she was sure, she had blown her one chance. The material she had was a major scoop but it was not the kind of news that could make a career. She had no choice but to get back in there.

The fact that Damon Salvatore had already seen her and thrown her out left her in a bit of a pickle. She could not get in there and risk him seeing her again and she was sure that he wore a mask among his guests so no one would recognize him, which made it even harder to avoid him. That left her with one solution. She had to go in there as a guest so she could wear one of those hideous masks and stay anonymous.

She already knew where they kept the masks so she quickly changed back into her simple black dress (Their boss had required them to show up in formal-wear even though they would change into uniforms anyway.), let her hair down and borrowed Caroline's red lipstick. She reentered the mansion, found a mask and slipped it on before anyone noticed then she went back into the main room.

* * *

**Damon**

He did not know what made him talk to her. He had been drinking but not nearly enough to make him lose his head yet he did the one thing he wanted to avoid; he showed her his face. She seemed different when he first saw her standing there in her black and white uniform. Maybe the fact that she was not one of those overly made up, desperate women drew him in. She was beautiful with her doe eyes and olive skin, she seemed pure, not yet ruined by the filthy world around her.

Something made him want to hear her thoughts on his party, maybe even him, even though he did not know her name. So he asked her, maybe hoping to hear something he did not already know, but she ended up being just as bad as the others, judging him based on some bullshit made up by the media and people who were jealous of his fortune. If they only knew how "fortunate" he really was. But if people already thought he was an ass, he really had no interest in changing their minds and might as well act like it, he thought.

He was standing at the top of the stairs when the light dimmed for the second half of the evening and out, came the girls… and guys, who was he to discriminate? Yeah, so the first half was the pretty part. Now it was time for the down and dirty. He could feel the atmosphere rising and he sucked it all in. This was his favorite part of the evening. The first part was just to draw them in and rile them up. Now he got to see them let go. With the promise of anonymity, they would let go of all pretenses and be their true selves and he had them dancing to his tune… literally… and metaphorically. The complete control he had over those people and their eagerness to swallow whatever he gave them be it food, drinks or sex, gave him this perverted sense of euphoria and he strived for it.

He was watching them for a while when a blond girl with black barely-there lingerie caught his eye. He decided that she would be his first companion of the night.

* * *

**Elena**

She saw it all. She was standing in the corner trying to be inconspicuous when she saw him. He was standing at the top of the stairs watching his guests. She could only interpret the look on his face as contempt.

When the light dimmed for the second time, she had no idea what she was about to witness. Iron cages were wheeled out with one male or female stripper inside each, dancing on a single pole. The guests were elated and she could feel the energy rising in the room. The music was something loud and rhythmic instead of the quiet jazz from before. She could not see a single servant and everyone was wearing the masks. It was like the first half of the night never existed.

A couple of minutes later, escorts in scarce clothing flooded the place and the highly respected and well-mannered members of society were reduced to a writhing mass of lust and greed. She finally understood the point of the masks. He wanted to tear down the glossy façade and see the actual people behind. Ironically enough, they could only let go of their inhibitions and be who they really were if they wore a mask to hide their faces and identities.

He was watching the whole thing from the top of the stairs for some time before he put on his own mask and descended the stairs to join them. That is when she decided that she had seen enough of this madness and needed to return back to the real world.

When she reached the Corona, she found Tyler and Caroline already there. She hurried into the backseat trying to get this night over with as fast as possible.

"Ohmygod! Elena wasn'titjustcrazy… Weweresoworriedaboutyou… whyareyouholdingamask?" Caroline screeched the moment Elena landed on her seat.

"Wow, slow down Care. I didn't get half of what you said there," she said looking at her usually energetic but not this crazy-neurotic friend.

"What's wrong with her?" She mouthed now looking at Tyler for an explanation.

"Well, she kindda ate some of the canapes and apparently there's something in them," he said.

"What do you mean; there's something in them, like what?" She said starting to panic when Caroline just kept on talking like she could not hear them.

"It looks like crack" He said with a shrug.

"Are you saying, Caroline is on Cocaine and you're just sitting here? We need to take her to the hospital!" She said now in full panic mode

"Relax Elena. She'll be fine once she sleeps it off," he said starting the car and speeding down the driveway towards the road.

* * *

AN: Please tell me what you think.


	4. Success

AN: Hello kind readers. Thanks for the reviews and alerts from last time. Here I present to you the next chapter of _From Hate to Love. _Have fun reading.

Sincerely

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter Four: Success**

**Damon**

A persistent throbbing held residence in his skull. Every time he tried to move a muscle or open his eyes, the throbbing intensified so he had to stop. The night before was a rare success, not in terms of his party, that was always a success but in terms of him finding that perfect peaceful place. He kept that peace of mind longer than any of the other times. Still, it was not enough. It was never enough, until it lasted forever. He knew that he had to do a little more than drown himself in sex and alcohol to reach final, infinite peace but he could not do it. Peace was too good for him and he already indulged enough in those stolen moments which he did not deserve either. Or maybe he was just a coward because he did not dare to simply end his miserable existence.

He could hear someone talking outside his door. It sounded like his brother arguing with someone but he might have been talking on the phone because he only heard his brother's side of the conversation. His voice got louder as he came closer to his room and when he knocked on the door, Damon winced from the loud sound that only added to the throbbing in his head.

He finally pried his eyes open and reached for the water and aspirin on his nightstand, surely put there by his brother. A moment later, Stefan entered the room with his phone in one hand and a frown on his face.

"They know."

"What?" Damon said, annoyed at his brother's vagueness.

"They know about the parties, Damon. They know what happened, what you served and what people where wearing," he said, exasperated.

"How?" He sounded bored and indifferent. Of course he knew it would come out sooner or later. He just hoped it would be later.

"Some journalist published an article about it online and since then every other website and magazine has been quoting it."

"Where did he get the information?"

"It's a woman, Elena Gilbert, and I don't know how she got the information, but she has pictures of the masks, the house and performances."

"Well, it was fun while it lasted," Damon shrugged then winced form a jolt of pain as his body rebelled against the unnecessary movement.

Now no one would dare to show up at another of his parties in fear of getting exposed. That was how they were. They did all kinds off shit just as long as their prized image stayed intact.

"She wrote about the escorts too." Stefan said after hesitating for a bit.

How did she know about that? Damon thought. He assumed that she got her information from the servants but he had made sure that none of them were there in the second half of the night.

Stefan made his way across the room to the glass doors that led to the balcony overlooking the pool and the garden surrounding it.

He had not told his brother any specifics about his parties and Stefan was not really a fan of his lifestyle but his brother was always there for him in the morning.

"Damon, Giuseppe is furious. She cut our name into shreds." Stefan said in a tired voice, his shoulders slouching.

Damon did not give a damn about Giuseppe but he did not mean to put his brother in this situation. Stefan worked at Salvatore and Co. along with their father. He chose to major in business and asked their father for a job in the company when he graduated, all around the exemplary son. Now, he was put in the middle whenever their father tried to resume control over his eldest son. Yes, Giuseppe wanted to control him like a puppet with its strings attached to his fingers, and he had been for at least 24 years of Damon's life. He chose everything for him; his school, college, courses, his major and his job. Then his life changed and he refused to live as a guest in his own life anymore so he quit his job and left the whole city.

In short; he started this whole party-business knowing full well that it would get out at some point and Giuseppe's precious reputation would suffer. In fact, it was part of the appeal but he did not want to hurt his brother. Stefan was just collateral damage.

"What makes you think I care about Giuseppe _or_ his name?" He finally said.

"At least read the article," Stefan said with a sigh before he left to get back to work.

Fine, he would read the damn article. It could be amusing to read what those morons thought about their rich and famous idols acting like pigs.

* * *

**Elena**

She wrote it as soon as she came home the night before. She knew that news was best served hot so she went home, sat with her laptop and wrote the whole thing down. By six am, it was ready to be uploaded. Tyler had already sent her the pictures but Caroline had to add her fashion piece later due to her drug mishap.

Yeah, about the cocaine; When they got back to the apartment, they had Bonnie check on Caroline. She assured them that she was going to be fine by morning so they just helped her into bed and hoped for the best. Thankfully, next morning, Caroline was right back to being her normal chipper self.

Elena did not include the drug-related piece of information in the article, though. Maybe she should have, but it did not feel right. When she left that mansion the night before, she was disgusted with the whole experience and when she found out about Caroline, she was furious but during the night, she started processing everything and ultimately seeing things in a different way.

Serving people drugs in their food was wrong and organizing sex orgies was way too messed up, but what made anyone fall this low? What horrors has he seen that made him give up on humanity? That look on his face before he descended the stairs was of pure disgust. He stripped those people to their most basic animal selves and only then did he join them. How low did he think of himself, if he only felt like one of them when they were at their worst?

Damon Salvatore was just a picture in a magazine. An idea of what someone rich, young and handsome would be like. When she saw him in the flesh and talked to him, he became real. He was never a real person before she actually met him and looked into his eyes. In those eyes, she saw things that confused her. There was a darkness so deep that it could swallow everything surrounding it and bury it in misery but there was also a light so pure but so small like it was barely holding on. That light did something to her. In the heat of the moment, she did not notice it but now. So many hours later, it was the most significant memory of the experience.

That was why, she did not write about the Cocaine. The parties had to stop but she did not want to ruin his life. Whatever hurt him this bad did not ruin him completely and she hoped, he could pull back from the self-destructive path and start getting his life back.

She tried to explain some of this to Caroline but she still thought that she should have exposed everything in the article. It was understandable considering the fact that Caroline had a horrible night because of the drugs and Elena felt bad about it. Like somehow she let her friend down, but she was torn between her loyalty to her friend and keeping someone from falling over the edge. In the end, she decided that saving someone from himself was more important and Caroline would eventually forgive her.

It turned out that Caroline could not keep a grudge for very long though, because when the article was uploaded, it caused a major media uproar and the site-visitor's count soared through the roof. Everyone else was quoting the article and their names and #TheGreatSalvatore were trending on twitter. All their colleagues were both happy for the attention to the magazine thus their work and also madly jealous of their success. Once Caroline saw the devastated look on Rebekah's face, she could not keep the huge grin from her own and ran to tell Elena about it, all problems forgotten.

Now they were celebrating in a club. Of course it was Caroline's idea and she even convinced Bonnie to join them. So they were all sitting in a booth at some popular club with overpriced drinks. But as Caroline said, they were celebrities just for today so they might as well enjoy it, hence the tequila shots they were clinking against each other in a toast.

"To success!" Caroline shouted with all three of them right behind.

They all threw back their heads swallowing the burning liquid and before they put their glasses back on the table, Caroline was on her feet pulling Tyler's arms.

"Let's go dannnncccceee." He had no choice but to follow her. The poor guy could barely keep up with her. She had too much energy, Elena thought, giggling a little at her friend's extra bubbly mood.

"So how do you really feel about this, Elena?" Bonnie was looking at her questioningly. She was always so attentive to her feelings, sometimes annoyingly so because she could never hide anything from her.

"Well, I _am_ happy of course. I mean this is great for our careers"

"But?"

"But nothing. It's just that I met someone at the party." Elena hesitated. She had not told Caroline about her brief encounter with Damon Salvatore and she was not sure if she should tell Bonnie either.

"I met Damon Salvatore," she finally said, deciding that she needed to confide in someone about her confusing thoughts.

"Wow. What was he like?"

"I don't know. He asked me what I thought about his party and when I insulted him, he lashed out at me."

"You insulted him at his own house?" Bonnie asked trying to contain her laugh.

"I did not know who he was, when I said it. I could not see his face."

"So what's the problem now?"

The problem was that she could not stop thinking about him. That look in his eyes was haunting her and she could not help but wonder, what made him this way.

"I guess I just feel weird about exposing him."

"You did the right thing 'Lena. He's probably better off now that you put an end to his madness."

"Yeah you're probably right."

"You know what? We need some dancing too. Just because we're single does not mean we don't get to have fun."

Bonnie got out of her seat and held her hand out to Elena who took it right away. They both headed to the dance floor and Elena decided to push all her thoughts away and just enjoy herself for tonight.

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading. Please be kind and tell me what you think You don't know how happy and inspired, I get when I read even a single word from one of you.


	5. Lawsuit

AN: Thank you so much for your reviews and alerts. It makes me so happy to know that you guys like the story. Here you go. Have fun reading.

Sincerely

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter Five: Lawsuit**

**Damon**

"I'm going to sue her for defamation of character."

Damon just entered his brother's office at Salvatore and Co. It was actually his old office but his brother looked much more at home there than he ever did. This was the first time he entered the company since the day he quit almost three years ago and he was not the least bit happy about being there. Still, he wanted to talk to his brother and he made sure that he would not run into Giuseppe, who was on a two-day business trip out of the city.

"So you read the article? It wasn't true?"

He noticed the hopeful tone in his brother's voice and he almost felt bad about having to burst his bubble. Yes, he had read the article so cleverly named; "The Great Salvatore". He actually liked it. That Gilbert woman was very eloquent. She induced wit and sarcasm into her writing and she managed to make him laugh once or twice. It was a shame really that he had to destroy her future and make her pay so much that she had to work the rest of her life to finish her debt. Not because he needed the money, obviously, but because she was a journalist. She was one of those nosey cockroaches who made their living by ruining other people's lives.

"It's true but she does not have any proof." He flopped into one of the leather chairs facing each other by the desk and put his boots on the coffee table.

"What are you talking about? There were pictures." Stefan was now wearing his usual frown.

"Yes, of some masks and a couple of scantily clad performers hardly the _high profile sex orgy_, she wrote about," he said with his hands up making air quotes. He reached out, snatched a letter opener and started playing with it, brought the pointy end to his index finger and started twirling it around.

This article-business was annoying him and he wasn't sure why he cared. He had been numbing himself for so long that he was not used to dealing with annoyance, or emotions in general yet here he was sober and practically seeking more trouble. Thinking about it; he had not had a drink in more than eight hours which was a new record. He suddenly longed for a drink so he got up, put the letter opener in his back pocket then made his way to the bar to pour himself a drink, thankful that his brother had a good taste in alcohol.

"This is a bad idea, Damon. What if one of those escorts testifies? We really don't need more bad-publicity." Stefan was leaning back in his office chair watching him intently.

"They won't testify brother. I'm the one who pays them." He took a large swig of his drink and reveled in the calming burn of it. He had thought about this the whole night. Everyone who worked for him would never say a thing because he paid them and they knew he could destroy them. None of the guests would say anything either because then they would implicate themselves. It was her word against his provided that she was at the party alone.

He was sure that she was at the party herself and saw everything with her own eyes because her descriptions were too accurate to be acquired through a third party. He just had to find out if she was there alone or if she had someone to testify with her. Fortunately, he knew exactly how to get the information.

* * *

After some more arguing with Stefan, he managed to convince him to help him sue the Gilbert woman. They were going to do it through the company so they could prove her accusations were "harmful" with cold, hard numbers and to have the company's attorney, Elijah Mikaelson on the case.

Now they were sitting in an SUV with black tinted windows parked at an abandoned supermarket. They were supposed to meet the photographer who took the pictures of the party. His name was Tyler Lockwood and apparently, he had a bad habit of gambling. He owed 50.000 dollars to some people who were recently hounding him for the money. All this information, they found out with some help from their jack of all trades security guy/driver/whatever-they-needed who was actually good at whatever he did. Aksel Agerlund, originally from Denmark which is why he looked like a six foot five, heavily muscled and red-haired Viking. Damon once asked him why he moved to the states and his answer was simply; because they did not allow civilians to carry guns. The guy was obsessed with guns. He always wore one in a holster by the hip but Damon suspected that he had more, hidden underneath his clothes.

Now Aksel was standing outside the car waiting for the photographer, he had contacted for them, to arrive. They were supposed to meet 7:30 pm but 15 minutes had passed and the guy was still a no show. Patience was not one of Damon's strong suits. In fact, he hated waiting. People usually waited for him not the other way around. He was getting more irritated by the second and the fact that Stefan was sitting next to him, his one leg shaking in a blur, was not helping.

"Stop shaking your leg, dammit." He finally burst out unable to ignore it anymore.

"This doesn't feel right, Damon. We should not be doing this." Stefan ignored his outburst but his leg stopped shaking.

"You were the one who insisted on coming along, Stefan." He knew his brother was too soft for this kind of mission. He had tried to make him stay in his glossy office and leave the dirty work to him. He was much more capable of bad-assery anyway but he suspected that Stefan did not really trust him. He was right.

"Yes, to keep you from doing anything you might regret."

"I'm perfectly capable of handling myself, little brother."

Right at that moment, the car door opened and a dark haired guy with shaggy clothes and a face covered in varying shades of blue was shoved onto the opposite seat.

"So, let's cut to the chase. You do whatever I tell you to do and I'll pay your debt. Start by telling me how you got into my house?"

At the promise of getting his tormentors off his back, Lockwood told them everything. They were three people; him, his girlfriend and the Gilbert woman. They were in the party disguised as servants. Lockwood and his girlfriend got out when the other servants were dismissed, but apparently the Gilbert woman had changed to look like one of the guests. That was why, she was the only one who witnessed the second part of the party and it was exactly what Damon wanted to hear.

"Now, Tyler was it? I am going to pay your debt as promised but what do you think about getting the same amount for yourself?"

He could see his face changing from the I-am-being-pressured-to-betray-my-friends-look to the greedy fuck-my-friends-for-money look and he knew he had him even before the guy formed the words in his head.

* * *

**Elena**

He was suing her for "defamation of character". She could not believe his nerve. He did it through their company but she was sure he was the one behind it. She felt really stupid that she actually felt sorry for him, and she regretted her decision not to write about the drugged food. She knew though that he would probably have sued her anyway and she would not have been able to prove anything. She was the only one who witnessed the second part of the party and she was sure, none of the guests or the people he hired would testify against him. It was his word against hers and her lawyer had advised her to try and discuss a settlement.

They were sitting in a conference room at Salvatore and Co. She had her lawyer on one side and Caroline on the other. Her friend wanted to show moral support and Elena thought she probably felt guilty for convincing her to go to the party in the first place.

They had been waiting for at least half an hour before the door finally opened and three men entered the room. The first one was in his early forties. He was carrying a briefcase that he put on the table. He started pulling documents out of it right away. Elena thought he probably was their lawyer. The next one to enter the room was a guy in his twenties with brown perfectly styled hair and green eyes. Both men wore suits and looked very professional when they sat down leaving the middle chair empty for the last man.

When he entered the room, she felt her heart start to beat faster, her hands were sweaty and her breathing was a bit shallow. She had not felt this nervous and on the brink of panic in years and of course it happened in the most unfortunate moment in her life. She needed to keep her calm and appear professional, but seeing him again threw her off and she had no idea why her reaction was so strong.

He was wearing jeans, a button-down and a leather jacket, everything completely black. The second he laid eyes on her, their eyes locked and he froze mid-step. His face was neutral but his eyes were like a storm that was pulling her in and throwing her around at the same time. After a while, he seemed to realize they were all waiting for him to sit down so he pulled out his chair across from her and sat down looking anywhere but at her.

"I am Elijah Mikaelson, and I'll be representing Salvatore and Co. This is Mr. Damon Salvatore and Mr. Stefan Salvatore." He waved his hands at the brothers respectively.

"I am Amanda Blake, and I'll be representing Miss Elena Gilbert. This is Miss Caroline Forbes who wrote the accompanying peace to the article."

"So, on behalf of Mr. Salvatore and Salvatore and Co. we are requesting a statement that discredits the article, "The Great Salvatore" by Elena Gilbert and a full apology to Mr. Salvatore published on the same website in addition to a retraction of said article. Furthermore, the defendant has to pay an amount of money to compensate for the losses to the company caused by the false information published in her article."

With every new sentence he was uttering, Elena felt herself getting angrier, and at his last words her blood was boiling.

"Everything I wrote was the truth and you know it." She shouted pointing her finger at Damon Salvatore who was forced to look at her. She could not decipher the look he gave her as he stayed silent.

"Miss Gilbert, we were under the impression that you wanted to discuss a settlement." Now their lawyer was looking at her accusingly, like she was some whiney girl wasting his time.

"We are, Mr. Mikaelson, but can I have a moment alone with my client please." Now Amanda was trying to contain the situation. She had told Elena to leave the talking to her and just keep her calm, but she had enough of their arrogance.

"No we are not. You can sue me if you want. I only told the truth." Elena was making a move to get out of her chair when their lawyer cleared his throat and started speaking.

"Now Miss Gilbert, maybe you should reconsider. You do not have anyone to testify with you in court. We, on the other hand, have a witness, who is willing to testify against you." Then he got out of his chair and excused himself for a moment. When he came back moments later, he had someone with him.

"Oh My God! Tyler!" Caroline had been exceptionally quiet throughout the meeting but when she saw her boyfriend following the lawyer with his head cast down, she could not hold back her shock.

"Mr. Lockwood says that you, Miss Gilbert, wanted to further your career by breaking the news about Mr. Salvatore's closed parties, so you disguised yourself as a servant to gain access to the mansion, and convinced your friends to go with you. When you did not find any scandalous material at the party, you decided to invent your own story and publish it as the truth to get more attention."

It was getting too difficult to breathe. The room was closing in and her heart was beating too fast. She was now in full panic mode and she had to get out of that room. She heard herself mumble something about getting some air before she jumped out of her seat and practically ran for the door.

* * *

**Damon**

He could not believe his eyes when he entered the room and saw her. He never asked for her name that night, but thinking about it, it made sense. She practically insulted him at his own party, when he asked for her opinion and her article was just the longer, more detailed version of what she had said to him face to face.

When he locked eyes with her, he was almost knocked down by the force of her stare. She was angry and he was sure that her impression of him got confirmed by his petty lawsuit. He almost laughed when he remembered how he lashed out at her for judging him.

While Elijah was talking, he tried to rearrange his thoughts that got scattered by the sight of her there. He had really wanted to make her pay. Not only for what she did but also for everything other journalists had done to him over the years. Now, he could not seem to find that previously burning desire anymore. Now, he only felt ashamed for not owning up to his actions. How did that happen? How did he go from not caring about anyone's thoughts of him to feeling ashamed of himself when he looked into _her_ eyes?

He could not look into her eyes again though so he looked anywhere else, but when she finally had enough of the bullshit Elijah was spewing, she forced him to look at her. He had no idea what to say to her. Yes, everything she wrote was true and he could not remember why he wanted to sue her in the first place.

Then Elijah went for the kill. He could see her struggling to breathe and he almost reached out to help her but then he remembered that _he_ was the reason for her panic. He was practically strangling her himself. Then she ran out and her lawyer requested a postponement. When they left, he stayed in the conference room staring at the chair she was in moments ago.

Elena, such a beautiful name, he thought. She was a beautiful woman. She was wearing formal clothes but her hair was down unlike the last time he had seen her where she had it up in a tight bun. She had her hair straight and she kept tucking and un-tucking it behind her ear throughout the meeting. He kept asking himself why he was so captivated by this particular woman. He had seen so many beautiful women but none of them managed to monopolize his thoughts like her.

His thoughts kept swirling like that even when he left the company and headed to the mansion. That night he went to bed alone for the first time in a very long time.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading. Please leave a word or two to tell me what you think. It really makes my day.


	6. Troubled Loved Ones

AN: Thank you for all you reviews and alerts. You are so kind to me and I want to thank one guest reviewer who brought my attention to a little research mistake in the last chapter. When you sue someone for a written statement, it's called libel instead of slander and 'defamation of character' includes both written and spoken statements.

This chapter includes a Caroline POV because I like Carline but it is going to be Delena-centric of course. I just think it's nice to read about the characters from someone else's point of view as well as their own.

That was a long author's note so without further ado here is chapter six.

Have a nice read.

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter Six: Troubled Loved Ones**

**Elena**

When she ran out of the office, Elena made her way to the closest elevator and then found the nearest exit. When she finally stepped outside the building, she felt herself getting calmer. Right there in the middle of the sidewalk surrounded by busy New Yorkers walking or driving past her, she regained control of her mind and body. She could breathe again.

This was not the first time, she had a panic attack. She had struggled with those for a period of time in her past, but she could not remember when she had the last one. She had thought that she was over it; that she was in complete control of her body and she would not have to suffer through more. She did so many things, changed so much to try and cure herself and she thought it worked. But lately she had been too immersed in her job that she did not have time to do all the things that made her happy. Maybe that was it. She just had to go back to doing the stuff that helped ground her and give her that inner balance.

Ten minutes later, Caroline and Amber were outside and Amber told her they pushed the meeting to next week. Elena was more than a little relieved that she did not have to go inside that building again… well until next week. Next week though was 7 days away and that was plenty of time to get herself back on track.

Sure enough, over the next week, Elena doubled her daily yoga-dose, tripled her charity work and started preparing for her monthly free yoga-class in Central Park for the summer. Those classes were usually a success. Each time, the women from her usual class would help her spread the word through social media and the show-up was great. Two ours of yoga, fresh air and an all-around positive energy; it was practically her own version of heaven. Those events gave her the perfect energy-fix and brightened her mood for weeks. That was exactly what she needed at the moment. She really could not afford to lose it in public again and especially not in next week's meeting… in front of _him_. She appeared week and unprofessional and that could never happen again. She had to be in control.

* * *

**Caroline**

She should not be doing this, Caroline thought as she pressed level number 20 in the elevator. She had thought about this so much that she did not get that much sleep the night before. Two days ago, she was in that very same building with her friend, who was getting sued for her article. The article she wrote because Caroline had convinced her to go to the S. party with her… and Tyler… that asshole. He screwed them over at his first whiff of money. She knew that he was a compulsive gambler and that he had a large debt. He ran to her every time they threatened and beat him and she took it upon herself to press ice packs to his bruises and try to come up with ways to help him. What a wasted effort on someone who did not deserve it, she thought.

She always fell for the wrong guys, gave them way too many chances but when it came to screwing not only her but also her friend over, Caroline drew the line. Tyler was out of her life forever and good riddance, she thought.

Even without the Tyler-thing Caroline felt guilty for being the one to convince Elena to go to that party but now the guilt was tripled. She had to do something for her friend, if not for Elena then for her own peace of mind. Elena did not deserve this though. She had already been through too much and Caroline remembered too well those times when she thought she was going to lose her best friend. Elena only recently bounced back and both Caroline and Bonnie were thankful for every time they saw her smile again.

In the last couple of days Elena had buried herself in her yoga and charity and Caroline knew too well that those were her methods of coping. Thank God, her self-medication was of the healthy kind, Caroline thought. She knew though that that meeting had thrown her off and she only hoped that she could get through the rough patch, but she was also making sure that Elena never had to go through that horrible meeting again.

When she reached the 20th level, she got out of the elevator and headed for the front desk. She then got directed to an office at the end of the hall and when she entered, a blond woman, probably an assistant, asked her to wait for a minute. She had previously called and asked for an appointment with Mr. Stefan Salvatore and here she was waiting just outside of his office and still wondering whether she should just run.

A moment later the assistant, Lexi, told her to go inside. So her chance was over. Now she had to do it. She pulled herself together and rearranged her carefully assembled outfit before knocking and then entering the office.

* * *

That office was huge. It was probably as big as their entire apartment. In the middle, there was a dark wooden desk and off to one side there was a sitting area complete with a flat-screen and coffee table also in dark wood. In fact everything else was just as dark from the couches to the paneling on the walls. The back wall was made of floor to ceiling glass that showed a stunning view of New York.

Stefan Salvatore was sitting behind his desk typing something on his computer. When she entered, he looked up and smiled before he stood up to greet her.

"Miss Forbes, it's nice to see you again."

"I would say the feeling is mutual, Mr. Salvatore, but it wouldn't be true." His smile faltered at her words but he tried to act nonchalant.

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

"Really? You did not seem that sorry when you accused my friend of lying even though you know she didn't." That was not completely true. He had actually seemed sorry through that meeting. He kept his eyes lowered as if he did not dare to look at any of them. That is why she thought of talking to him. He seemed like a reasonable guy, just the opposite of his brother who looked every bit the asshole he was with his black clothes and leather jacket. Seriously, who wore a leather jacket to a formal meeting?

"Miss Forbes, I really can't discuss the case with you. Please, tell me you're here for another reason." He said with a sigh.

Of course she was here for the case. Why else would she ever make an appointment with him? Yes, he was hot and she had a hard time focusing whenever he moved, like his muscles were calling her from underneath that well-tailored suit, but she was here for her friend and he was the enemy, she reminded herself.

"You have to drop the case." She finally said.

"Miss Forbes…"

"No! Let me finish before you say anything. Everything Elena wrote in her article was true and you probably know that but she did not write everything…" He was now really listening to her when she went on telling him about the canapés, she really wanted to taste and how she ended up having a bad reaction to the drugs in them. At her words the frowns on his forehead deepened but he did not interrupt her. When she finished her story, he looked angry and she was not sure if he wanted to bite her head off.

"I did not know… I did not know Damon had sunk this low." He finally said making her breathe in relief. He believed her.

"My brother was never this person before, but now he's burying himself deeper into the mud and I have no idea how to pull him out." He was talking with this forlorn look on his face and she almost went around the desk to give him a hug. Instead she settled for an advice. "You can't pull him out if he does not want you to. You just have to wait for him to be ready to receive your help."

She was not sure how she switched from hating the guy to consoling him and giving him advice about his relationship with his brother but he was not really the bad guy. He was just concerned about his brother.

"You seem like you know what you're talking about." He said with a questioning look.

"Yeah… I guess you could say that." She said with a shrug. He was cute but she was not going to tell him her life story just yet. She needed to be strong in the face of cuteness so she did not end up with more Tylers.

"Thank you, Caroline. Can I call you Caroline?" He said staring into her eyes and she knew he really meant it.

"Sure, Stefan." She said and gave him a smile that he returned immediately.

"I'll convince him to drop the case. We don't really need any more bad publicity, and please thank your friend for not writing about it in her article."

* * *

**Damon**

_Long brown locks_

_Sweet lips_

_An innocent smile_

_Big brown eyes were looking at him with a childlike curiosity. They did not belong to a child though. They belonged to a woman and behind her curiosity there was sadness, too deep to miss. He could not help but reach out to her. He wanted to tell her it was going to be okay… that she did not have to be sad anymore. Just before his hand touched her skin, he hesitated. He felt like he had forgotten something. Like there was something important he was supposed to know but he just… did not._

_The look in her eyes was too distracting though and he really wanted to touch her... to feel her skin… to comfort her through his touch. He reached out his hand again and this time he did touch her. He felt her warm skin underneath his fingers. He looked into her eyes again to see if the sadness was still there but instead of brown they were now white... like death! Just like that he remembered but it was too late and before his eyes the woman turned into a pile of bones and clothes at his feet. _

_"__You did this! You destroy everything you touch… You bastard!" _

Damon opened his eyes and found himself sitting up in his bed gasping for breath. The last couple of nights were rough. He did not do the usual sex and alcohol indulgence. Instead he restricted himself to a little bit of bourbon… okay a lot of bourbon but still much less than the usual. Anyway, the nightmares returned and after two nights of almost no sleep and constant torture generated by his subconscious, he felt himself craving those nights of indulgence. He just could not do it anymore because of _her_. She ruined his carefully constructed and personally tailored drug. And now she was the star of her own version of his standard nightmare.

Why would she even be in his nightmare? His subconscious was driving him crazy. It was not like he did not have enough crap on his conscience, now she was on that ever-growing pile as well. To be honest though, he put her there the moment he went for that stupid lawsuit. He did not even remember his reasoning for it at the time. It was not like he needed the money, God dammit.

Lying in his bed for the last couple of minutes with the thoughts churning in his head, he soon realized that he would not fall asleep again anytime soon so he got up and went for the shower. He would at least make himself presentable and head down town. Staying in that godforsaken house was going to make him go nuts. He really needed to get a place in Manhattan, but the thought of those paparazzi-assholes made him reluctant. Also, he did not want to go back _there_, so he had to find a new place.

* * *

Freshly showered and ready to head out, Damon made his way to the kitchen to grab a bite when he found his brother and their mountain of a security guy engaged in a heated argument by the kitchen island. Everything around them was in a complete mess. Cupboards and drawers were left open with their contents sprawled all over the place.

"So did you find it?" Damon said leaning on the door frame.

Both of their heads shot up at the sound of his voice, their argument completely forgotten.

"Find what?" Stefan asked with a confused look.

"Whatever, you were looking for."

It seemed like he finally got it as he turned from confused to accusing, the lines on his forehead rapidly multiplying.

"Aksel, could you please leave us alone," he said.

"Uh oh. What'd I do now?" Damon said in a playful tone.

"How could you sink that low, Damon? I knew you were screwed up but I never imagined you'd do something that low." Stefan finally said when Aksel was out of earshot. He had the most disappointed tone Damon had ever heard.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Stefan. Just spit it out already." He was getting really annoyed with the whole disappointed-accusation-thing.

"Cocaine, Damon. You roofied them?!"

"What the fuck are you saying Stefan? Are you on something?" This was getting way too ridiculous and he was ready for the conversation to end.

"Stop playing dumb, man. Forbes and Gilbert found cocaine in the food you were serving at the party but they decided not to write about it in the article to save your ass." Stefan explained.

"Stefan, I did a lot of shit in my life but I have never done what you're saying." Damon said now completely serious as he stared his brother down. He was barely keeping a grasp on his temper. So they accused him of lying but they went around inventing stuff about him to turn his brother against him. Of course they did not write it in the article; they did not have any damn proof, because it was not true.

"Why would they lie about something like that, Damon? Miss Forbes, told me that she ate some of the canapés herself. That's how they found out, because her reaction was too strong that they almost took her to the hospital. She said that, she wanted revenge by exposing you but her friend did not want to write about it. She didn't want to destroy your life, she said."

"They are lying to make us drop the case, of course."

"I believe her, Damon."

"Well, suit yourself."

"We have to drop the case. We can't do this to them. They don't deserve it and we really don't need any more bad publicity."

"No. That's what they want. We can't give it to them."

"Well, that's too bad because I am representing Salvatore and Co. and I am going to drop the case. You don't really have a say."

With those last words Stefan walked right past him and headed for his car. He could not believe that after all this time and after everything they had been through, his brother would turn against him because of some lie. How ironic that the moment he decided to try and turn his life around, his attempt was thrown right in his face.

He had not moved an inch from his position by the door frame when he found the last standing object in the kitchen on a counter right next to him. It was a crystal vase that he remembered his mother used to love. She always made sure there were fresh flowers in it and she placed it on the kitchen table where they used to eat breakfast. They always knew she was home when the vase was filled.

Now, it was empty, standing there on the counter, mocking him. It would never be full again. He did not quite realize, what he was doing, before the vase ended up on the floor, shattered in a million pieces.

Everything he touched _did_ get ruined. Maybe he should finally accept that.

* * *

AN: Thank you so much for reading. Please tell me what you thought about this chapter. Reviews really are a writer's fuel.


	7. Best Friends and Special Friends

AN: Hey guys. I just wanted to know if something was wrong with the last chapter because there was not that many reviews and I thought maybe I had done something wrong. Anyway, thanks to those who did review and added the story to their alerts.

I am as you know a couple of chapters ahead of you and I just finished a chapter that I am so excited for you guys to read.

Here you have chapter seven of "From Hate to Love".

Enjoy,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Best Friends and Special Friends**

**Elena**

A week had passed like a blur and today was Monday; the day before their second meeting at Salvatore and Co. Elena thought she was as ready as she could ever be to face them and their adult bullying. She was relaxed, she was strong and she had the truth by her side. That was basically her mantra for the last week as she worked her ass off to prepare herself. She was confident in her strength and her abilities but hiding her emotions was not her strong suit. She always felt _everything_ and she fully believed that that was how life should be lived. Sometimes though, when things hurt, it could be too overwhelming and she wished that she had the ability to control her emotions better. Just enough control to stop them from consuming her.

That was why she started doing yoga. First it was just a fun new thing she tried out with Caroline in college but because she always felt good afterwards, she just kept doing it. As she got better and learned how to control her breath and ease into the different poses while not breaking her focus, she realized that she felt calm when she turned off the constant churning of her mind for a while. Then she had gotten her yoga teaching certificate and the reward was even greater now that she could help other people reach their inner calm as well.

Her first free yoga-class was in two weeks and she felt her spirits lift just at the thought of it. Yoga was not the only thing she indulged in though; she also did some charity work, like organizing clothes-donations for the homeless and general fundraising for their organization but her favorite part was visiting the kids at the homeless shelter two blocks away from their apartment. She loved that place and spending time there was the most amazing thing in the world for her. She had made special connections with most of the kids and she was a regular visitor but lately, she felt like she had neglected them a little, getting too wrapped up in her work.

Work took up a lot of her time too. After the smashing success of her article, she was getting assigned more work but she also got private invitations from people wanting coverage for their events. She went to two smaller ones last week but on Friday, she was invited to a much talked about fundraising event hosted by some big-shot member of society. She would have been excited for an opportunity like that if she had not already had a bad experience with rich people.

Elena was lost in her thoughts sitting in the subway on her way back from work. Even though it was a Monday, she was on her way home way earlier than usual. She usually stayed for a while after her colleagues left to finish whatever she was working on. She always managed to think clearer and write better when she was not surrounded by the usual chaos of the day so she made sure that she got those moments of quiet to do her work. Today though, she needed to take a break and maybe a long bath to get relaxed and ready for tomorrow.

When she reached her stop, Elena almost missed it as immersed in her thoughts as she was but she managed to jump out of the carriage just before the doors closed. Bonnie would be at the hospital for another three hours and Caroline said she had some fashion-related event tonight so Elena expected the apartment to be empty and she kind of liked that. She really needed some time alone to soak in their bathtub and just not speak to anyone for a little while.

When she reached their building, she went inside and checked their mail box before she ascended the stairs. There were a couple of letters for Bonnie, a fashion magazine for Caroline and a letter for her… from Salvatore and Co.

She was ripping the envelope open, when she reached their apartment. She unlocked the door with her right hand and got inside while she was looking at the letter in her left hand. She realized though that she was not alone when she heard a giggle from the kitchen that sounded like Caroline. She sighed and went to find her, deciding to read the letter when she got to her room. The moment she walked into the kitchen, she froze in her spot at the scene in front of her. Caroline was half naked sitting on the counter next to the open fridge with a guy only wearing grey slacks standing between her legs licking cream of her fingers then kissing her. When he drew back and Caroline opened her eyes she finally saw Elena standing there in the hallway.

"Oh my God! Elena!"

The guy turned around at her outburst and when Elena recognized his face, she could finally move again so she turned around and hurried back out the way she came.

"Elena, wait! I can explain." Caroline's voice carried down the hall after her but she ignored it trying to get away from them as fast as possible. Stefan Salvatore! Caroline was sleeping with Stefan Salvatore of all people and in their apartment. God, why did everyone feel the need to screw her over? She could not help but feel betrayed. She never expected anything like this from Caroline. Her phone kept ringing but she ignored it and kept walking down the street with no particular destination.

Caroline had been her friend as long as she could remember. They used to share Barbie's clothes in kindergarten, braid each other's hair in elementary school and share every gossip, crush and secret in high school. Then they ended up at the same college where they chose almost the same major. They were inseparable and during all those years, they both knew that they could count on the other. Although many had tried to drive a wedge between them, they never succeeded because they never let anyone between them and certainly not any guys.

Caroline sleeping with Stefan was not in itself the issue here because as betrayed as Elena currently felt, she always wanted her friend to be happy and she would have eventually accepted their relationship if Caroline only had told her. She thought they told each other everything no matter what but apparently she was wrong.

A little while later Elena found herself at the yoga-studio. The manager had given her a key because her class started early in the morning before his shift started and she sometimes came here to prepare herself before class. She unlocked the door and went inside, thinking that she might as well stay here for a little bit and maybe do some yoga to calm down.

The idea of facing Caroline and having to listen to her defend herself kept her from going back home so she ended up spending the night sleeping on a yoga mat.

* * *

**Damon**

Andie Starr, a former stripper, now owner of the biggest club in Manhattan. Her girls were the best there were and her alcohol the most extravagant. The place was basically every straight guy's dream and every night the club was packed. Tonight Damon found himself in the VIP section of said club with a tall redhead striving only for his attention. Her hips were swaying to the music and the growing amount of showing skin was glistening in the dim lights. She was a vision to behold which made it easy for him to lose himself in the sight.

"Mr. Salvatore. I hope you're enjoying yourself tonight." The voice came from behind him as two hands slid down the front of his chest. He recognized her immediately, Andie Starr. She was what one could call an old friend of his and he would have recognized her voice anywhere.

"Always, in your company, miss Starr." He said turning around his smirk already in place. He took her hand and kissed it before he invited her to join him. The redhead kept dancing unaffectedly.

"So what brings you here after all this time?" She asked.

It was almost three years since the last time he had been there. Before that, he used to come regularly to the club which used to be one of his favorite hangout places.

"I missed _you_ of course." He finally said.

"Don't try to charm me Salvatore I know you. I also know that you're not gonna tell me anything so I'll just stop asking."

That was why he liked her. She understood his moods before he even realized what he wanted.

"I know you know me but maybe you would like to get reacquainted with me." He said hinting not so subtly at what he wanted.

"Maybe I would." She said.

Next thing he knew, Damon found himself in the elevator on his way to his new apartment. His mouth was working its way along her neck and his hands were everywhere on her body while she was running her nails along his shoulder with one hand and tugging on his hair with the other. She was his first ever real sexual experience, back when he was a gangly teenager and she would always have a special place in his memory. She was the one who taught him the secrets of how to pleasure a woman and hold off on his own pleasure until she was fully satisfied. He owed her all of his later conquests but she also got to have a taste of her own creation once in a while. They used to find each other every now and then to revisit those two months when they first met.

He was 16 that summer when he was staying in the city and some older guys, he knew snuck him into the club where she was working at the time. He had some previous experiences, if you could call it that, with some girls at school but when he saw her twirling around that pole and slowly revealing more and more of her creamy white skin and those long legs, he was mesmerized.

When he found himself a couple of days later in her arms, he could not believe his luck. She was in her early thirties, a fully grown woman who was hot as hell and now 11 years later, she was just as hot.

They were finally in the apartment now and Damon could not wait to get her out of that dress. It was formfitting and short but conservative compared to what she used to wear back in the day. His hands worked their way to the zipper at the back while his mouth was still fully engaged now ravaging her lips. He meant to do it slowly but when he first got to feel the skin on her back, he pulled the zipper down the rest of the way and he only needed to tug the dress once before it slid down and revealed her for him.

When they first met, he never would have expected her to ever go for him but she did and on top of that, she gave him all the keys to a woman's body and thus heaven.

Later when he got the full reins of his trust fund, he made sure that she never had to strip for anyone she did not like. That was how she now owned the best club in the city with girls working for her. He knew he always had a place in her club and from time to time in her bed… or his bed. Like right now where she was sprawled on his bed with his head between her thighs. He was working his magic and she was writhing underneath him, one of her hands planted firmly in his hair pulling him into her and her other hand holding on to the sheets trying to find some leverage.

In his hands she was like an instrument and her screams of pleasure were his symphony. Tonight he got to lose himself in the symphony of Andie Starr.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading. Please be kind and tell me what you thought.


	8. Perfection of Means, Confusion of Aims

AN: Hello my dear readers. Thank you so... so much for your response to the last chapter. Now we are getting close to some major story points. Here you have chapter eight of FHTL.

enjoy,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Perfection of Means and Confusion of Aims**

**Elena**

They dropped the case. It was confusing as hell. One day they accused her of lying, trespassing and whatnot and the next they just dropped the case without a word. Elena was of course glad that she did not have to face them again but she felt like something was off. She just could not put her finger on what it was.

Tuesday morning Elena woke up in the studio with a stiff back and a growling stomach. She realized that she had not eaten anything since lunch the day before. She needed a shower, fresh clothes and something to eat before going back to work. It was very early in the morning and Caroline would still be asleep meaning she would not have to face her just yet so Elena headed back home.

When she entered the apartment though, she did not find the quiet semidarkness she expected. All the lights were on and the sounds from the TV carried all the way down the stairs. She steeled herself for whatever crisis she would find as she walked the few steps to the living room. Bonnie was sitting on the couch holding a sniffling Caroline trying to hush her.

"Elena!" Bonnie said with a relieved sigh when Caroline jumped out of her arms and turned to face her.

"Elena, where were you? We thought something happened." Now Caroline was full on crying as she stood up and walked a couple of steps towards Elena, like she wanted to hug her but she seemed to change her mind because she stopped and stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." Her eyes were all puffy and red like she had spent the whole night crying.

"What did you expect would happen when you slept with the guy suing me without even telling me?" Elena said now not able to keep her anger inside anymore.

"Stefan is not suing you, his brother was trying to but he made him drop the case."

"What are you talking about?"

"They dropped the case. We don't have to go meet them today."

Right then she remembered the letter from Salvatore and Co. she found in the mail yesterday. Because of what happened, she had stuffed it in her bag and forgotten all about it. She unzipped her bag and pulled it out. The envelope was already ripped so she unfolded the letter and read what it said. Sure enough they had dropped the case with no apparent reason.

"See? He's a really good guy, Elena but I will never see him again if you don't want me to."

Caroline was wringing the tissue in her hands like she was trying to wring the tears out of it. She was nervous and Elena knew that that was hard for her to say because she was clearly very smitten with the guy.

"It's okay Care. I won't stand in the way of your happiness." Elena sighed.

Caroline squealed and said "thank you" over and over again as she threw herself at Elena to give her the biggest hug to date.

"Now that you got that sorted out, Elena you can't leave without a word like that, honey. We worry about you. At least send a text telling us you're okay." Bonnie said from behind Caroline. She was always the most responsible one of them. Being a little older than the other two, she sometimes felt herself responsible for them.

"I was at the studio but you're right I should have told you."

* * *

It was Friday night when Elena entered the ballroom where she had to cover the biggest event since the S. Party. It was a charity cocktail party held at one of the most popular hotels in Manhattan. Caroline had helped her find the perfect dress. It was black and lacy with a high neckline and an exposed back. It was maybe a little bit too racy but she wanted to look her best and express a confident mindset. Caroline was walking next to her in her green satin dress. She was going to write about the clothes of all the socialites and celebrities.

There were a lot of people and most of them were well-known and Elena had more than enough material after a couple of hours. She had split from Caroline a long time ago and was talking to a couple about their thoughts on the target charity of the event when she saw him. Just a couple of feet away from her in his immaculate tux, he was chatting with a group of people. They seemed to be mesmerized; she could tell by the dazed looks in their eyes, both men and women. So he was back in the limelight then, Elena thought. She sighed when she remembered that she had to write about him attending the party.

Right that moment he turned his gaze to where she was standing. Their eyes locked. She could feel the tension like an actual string attaching them to each other. Two seconds later he excused himself, turned around and walked away. What the hell was his problem? Elena thought. She was not the one who lied and tried to ruin his future so why was he acting like she poisoned his puppy?

Elena tried to let go of that little episode but it kept creeping back into her thoughts every time she pushed it away. Close to midnight she could not do any more smiling or small talking so she found a door that led to a balcony and stepped outside to take a breath and gather herself.

"It seems to be our thing, to meet on balconies and verandas." His voice sounded from behind her. Startled she turned around and found him leaning on the wall behind her.

"We don't have a thing." She said, her tone sharp.

He ignored her comment and went on. "So tell me. Are you here to spin more lies and shred another name?" His arms were crossed and his face did not give away any emotion as he said the words.

"What are you talking about? I never lied. You were the one who paid someone to lie for you." She was seething. How could he be so haughty after the way he had acted?

"Yes, I changed some details about the truth and yes, I paid someone to do it but I did it to your face…" He slowly started walking towards her and pointing at her with his index finger, he went on; "you, sneaky little thing sent your friend to manipulate my brother and turn him against me." Now he was standing two inches from her and she felt like he was stealing all of her air. His eyes flared and she almost saw blue flames licking along the rim of his irises.

"So tell me; which one is dirtiest?" He finished and she had no idea what he was talking about or what to say next. She kept staring at him as the seconds passed by and completely unintentionally her gaze dropped to his lips and she was distracted. Those lips were so full and she could bet that they were soft as well. Then they started to move closer and closer. She blinked trying to clear her vision and her thoughts but those lips were closer still and the next moment they crashed against hers and whatever reason she had left disappeared. They were soft oh so soft and a moment later she felt his tongue trying to get entrance to her mouth which she granted and she was lost. Lost to the connection and lost to the sensation triggered in other parts of her body when his hands snaked around her waist, one of them holding her in place and the other sneaking down to grab her ass and then further down to her thighs just beneath the hem of her dress. Her own hands were wandering on their own journey around his neck and in his hair.

She was gasping for breath and so was he but whenever they let go to take a breath they pulled each other back in and started over.

"Elena!"

The sound of her name was like a cold shower that drained down her back and woke her up. Her mind clicked on again and all of her thoughts were back inside her mind. _She_ was back inside her own body.

They were so tangled in each other that it took a moment to get untangled and Elena kept her eyes away from him and away from Caroline who was standing in the door to the balcony with her mouth open in shock.

Finally he cleared his throat and excused himself before he went inside and left Elena to deal with her friend.

* * *

**Damon**

He had no idea why he decided to attend that party. He had gotten an invitation like he always did to that sort of thing but instead of just throwing it out without looking like he usually did, he had read it. It was not much different than any other party where a bunch of very rich people used some random charity as an excuse to dress up and socialize with a well-stocked bar and the occasional business deal as a bonus. That particular night though, Damon had no other more pressing plans so he thought he could make an appearance and leave whenever he got bored. He did not expect to find _her_.

Right there in between fake blondes, fake tans and fake breasts, she was, in one hell of a dress. Her hair braided and pulled to the side to expose that magnificent back. He was over right then and there. He forgot the conversation, he was in the middle of and when their eyes locked, he could nearly see the tension between them. He could not breathe with her eyes on him like that, like she saw him. The real him, so he ran away. Then she was there right in front of him on the balcony and he could have stayed silent but the sight of here revoked so many things… _feelings_ inside of him. One of them was anger and he went with it. He yelled at her, she yelled back and somewhere along the way one of the other feelings showed its head and he was a slave to it. One moment her eyes were staring him down and the next they dropped to his lips. When his own eyes dropped to her lips, she was licking them. He wished that it was his tongue instead of hers and a second later he found himself doing exactly that.

His five minutes in heaven were cut short when her blond friend interrupted with a shocked voice and a judgmental stare and he found himself running away again. When did he become such a coward? He thought, heading to the bar to get a drink.

* * *

AN: Thank you so much for reading. Please make my day by telling me what you think.


	9. Free as a Bird

AN: Thanks to all who reviewed and alerted. Your sweet words keep inspiring me and I really need that right now to get rid of this mild writer's block I have. Don't worry though because I still have a stash of chapters written and ready to be published for you. Anyway, I am so excited for you guys to read this chapter. I am so proud of it and I can't wait to know if you like it. Here you have chapter nine.

Happy reading,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Free as a Bird**

**Elena**

"What the hell were you doing?" Caroline said and crossed her arms like she just caught a kid with her hands in the cookie jar.

"What did it look like?" Elena said holding her head high.

"It looks like you've lost your mind."

"Why? Because I kissed a guy?" Elena exclaimed. They were getting louder and louder.

"No, because you kissed Damon friggin Salvatore."

"You are sleeping with his brother."

"…who is not an asshole, drug addict and man-slut. Elena he drugged me!"

Elena was reeling. She was being judged and by her best friend who ironically was doing something not very different from what she just did. At least Elena did not stab anyone in the back, well, not really.

"Is this you getting back at me for dating Stefan?" Caroline said in a soft voice like the truth just dawned on her.

"For once Caroline, something I did is not about you." A hurt look took over Caroline's features. "I thought you had forgiven me." She had… at least she thought, she had.

"You've had countless guys, hell you just broke up with one. Why couldn't you keep it in your pants with this one?" Elena went on. She could deal with an angry Caroline but she could not handle a hurt one.

"Well not all of us can stay celibate for years like you…" Caroline said with a somewhat lower volume but sure enough, she was angry. "…of course you wouldn't understand. How long is it since you've been with a guy, Elena?"

Elena felt like she just got slapped. She did not mean for things to turn around on her and she definitely did not want to discuss _this_.

"You should not judge people like that, Caroline." She finally said in a lower tone, turning the conversation back to safe grounds. "You don't know him."

"But I know _you_, Elena, and you are not this girl. He is the kind that changes women like he changes underwear. He'll hurt you." Caroline said softly. She obviously regretted her previous outburst but Elena had enough.

"Maybe I am this girl. Maybe I want a one night stand with some random guy. It's my life, Caroline and no one. Not you, not Bonnie get to decide things for me," she said as she turned around and left her friend standing dumbfounded watching her walk away.

* * *

**Damon**

"So do you think we can ever have a conversation without ending it with a fight?" He said as he sat on the bar stool next to hers putting his drink on the bar.

"You started the fight, last time," she answered but he glimpsed a smile tugging at her lips.

"Maybe we should do this again the right way," he said and she lifted one eyebrow in question.

He reached out his hand. "Damon Salvatore, a pleasure to meet you."

She caught on to his plan and shook his hand saying; "Elena Gilbert, the pleasure is mine."

"So, Elena, if I may call you that…" She waved him on. "… What do you do?" He was going to play this all the way out.

"I'm a journalist." Her chin lifted a bit as she said it.

"What do you write about?"

She tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear before she answered; "Right now, I cover events and write about celebrities in New York, but that is not my ultimate goal."

"Then what is?"

At his question, her eyes started to sparkle and her face lighted up like a Christmas tree. "I want to write about important things, things that matter. Like child hunger, political repression, human trafficking…" she trailed off then picked up again. "I want to bring attention to things that happen in the world that no one else cares to talk about. I want to… sorry, you don't want to hear all this" She took a sip of her drink.

"On the contrary, I want to know. It's why I asked." She was damn passionate about her work. He could see it in every breath she took. How remarkable must it be to feel so greatly about what you do.

"So tell me, Damon, what do you do?" She resumed their little game but what could he say exactly? That he spent his days sleeping and his nights drinking and sleeping around? But she probably already knew that about him so why rehash. "Right now I'm talking to a beautiful woman and in a second I'm gonna ask her to dance with me." He flashed her his winning smirk as he opted for deflection. He reached his hand and asked her to dance. To his surprise, she agreed. She took his hand and let him lead her to the dance floor.

To this moment, Damon had smoothly pushed thoughts of their steamy-make-out-session-in-plain-view out of his head but when he had her back in his arms, his hand touching the bare skin of her back; he could not stop the thoughts from rushing to the forefront of his mind. She was beautiful but a lot of women were, yet she was a completely different creature.

There seemed to be an electrical current running between them at all times and whenever he touched her, it flared and intensified. He could nearly hear it buzzing. He had to work really hard to keep his mind from short circuiting and making him jump her right there on the dance floor like a crazed animal.

He tried to keep the small talk going never veering from completely safe subjects and he found that talking about her job was the safest bet. She lighted up every time but she also loved talking about her _other_ job. She was apparently a yoga teacher as well – which definitely threw him in a loop for a minute before he managed to pull his mind out of the gutter and back to reality. He also found out that she lived with two friends in Brooklyn one of whom none other than Blondie.

A couple of times, she tried to ask him about his own life but when he kept giving her vague non-answers then changed the subject, she stopped and let him lead the conversation as well as the dance.

They were already three songs in, when her phone rang and she excused herself for a couple of minutes before she came back to the bar where he was waiting. First she looked a little guilty but when she saw him, she smiled. "It seems like I have been abandoned," she said and he offered to buy her a drink. He thought; they might have fought or something. Her friend was too protective of her to just leave her here, with him.

Three drinks and a conversation about the meaning of life later, he offered to drive her home. She refused. He insisted and called his driver to bring the car around.

He led her out the lobby doors, down the steps and onto the sidewalk, his hand on the small of her back. The car was already there but when he moved to open the door for her, she stopped him. "Wait. I have a better idea," she said her eyes sparkling. "Come on." She grabbed his hand and started walking down the sidewalk. He waved the driver away. There was no choice but to follow her.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

They walked for two more minutes then she started walking down the stairs to a subway station. He was about to stop her. He had never taken the subway before; too many people knew his face and being stuck underground with hordes of people and no fast escape used to make his skin crawl. Tonight though, he did not really care and she looked very determined to take him down there so he kept his mouth shut and let her drag him with her.

It was filthy. The floors were covered in old dried out patches of gum, the walls, covered in all kinds of posters had a thick layer of something black maybe soot and the air was getting stale as they walked deeper into the ground. There was not that many people left this late but he could imagine how horrible it must be during rush hour.

He had no idea where they were and how the hell she knew where to go next. It amazed him that she seemed used to being down there like she did it every day. Was it even safe for pretty girls to be there this late?

The sound of a lonely guitar caught his attention. It drifted towards them from inside a tunnel. When she led him into the tunnel, the sound intensified and he recognized the tune; _Free as a bird_ by the Beatles. The sound filled the space with an otherworldly atmosphere. A kind of wild loose hand was playing the song and the voice singing the words was almost husky. He had never heard such a wild, different version of it before but it worked like magic. The artist was a guy with dreadlocks, too short pants and a beaten up guitar. It was a miracle it still produced such an amazing sound.

They stopped there watching him play and Damon let the sound fill him up like it filled the space around them. Suddenly, he realized that the stale air and filthy floors did not bother him at all. In fact, it was kind of… nice, to be there in this underground world with stale air, low ceilings, wild music… and her hand in his. He felt… free.

He knew she was gouging his reaction so when the realization hit him, he looked at her and smiled. She smiled back and he had the most pressing urge to kiss her but she was the one who pulled him closer and smashed her lips to his. Her kiss was soft yet passionate like everything else about her. For the first time in a long, long time, he felt completely free. Free from his thoughts, free from everyone else's... and just simply free.

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading. Sooo, what did you think? I am sitting on nails waiting for your response to this chapter and the Delena moment ;)


	10. Seven Minutes in Heaven

AN: Thank you for your continued support. You guys are amazing and I love you so much. This is also a very big chapter so I really hope you like it.

Here you go and have a nice time reading,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Seven Minutes in Heaven**

**Elena**

She felt incredible. They talked, they danced and they talked some more. Then she had the craziest idea; she wanted to take the subway and she wanted him with her. When he first found out what she intended, he was reluctant. She felt it when his grip loosened and his steps slowed down but then he let her have her way and now she was flying.

She was feeling rebellious and reckless. The music, his cologne and his hand in hers; it was intoxicating. She knew he was feeling it too. She saw it in those beautiful eyes of his.

When he smiled, it reached his eyes for the first time since she met him and she could not hold herself back anymore. She kissed him. After his initial surprise, he kissed her back. It was light and sweet but the strange connection between them made it intense. That moment stretched on for eternity. Even when they let go of each other, she grabbed his hand and ran the rest of the way to catch the train, her lips along with the rest of her body kept buzzing like every tiny cell was on high alert.

She could not stop smiling as they got on the train right before the doors closed and found empty seats in the corner. She knew he was afraid of being recognized and they were not exactly subtle with their fancy clothes. No one seemed to notice though and even if they did, they did not care. That was the thing about public transport; everyone looked anywhere but at each other.

It was the fastest subway ride in her life. She realized that she had not let go of his hand yet as they reached their stop. She did not have a plan of where to go so she walked, letting her feet lead her.

When she looked up and found the building with the yoga studio in front of her, she knew what she wanted and she went with it.

"Is this where you teach yoga?" He asked.

"Yes."

"What are we doing here?" She heard the confusion in his voice. Of course he would not guess what she wanted. She was not "that kind of girl" according to Caroline.

She had unlocked the door and they were inside before she turned around and faced him. "It's going to be a one-time-thing. No strings attached and we'll never speak of it again." She felt a courage cursing through her but she did not know where it came from, maybe the drinks, she thought.

His eyes widened as the understanding hit him but his surprise vanished quickly making way for a confident smirk. She was sure he used that smirk on all his women.

He brought his face inches away from hers and whispered; "Done!" right before he plunged his mouth to hers and there was nothing sweet and surprised about this kiss. It was perfectly designed to seduce. He was in his element which was the exact reason, she wanted this from him. Despite their amazing night and that magical moment at the station, she knew that she could never have him for more than one night. That was just who he was and she could have just left it at that; one beautiful kiss in an unrealistically wonderful moment, but her newly discovered reckless side wanted more. _She_ wanted more.

Caroline was right. It had been such a long time since she had been with a guy and actually enjoyed it. Yes, she tried to date a couple of times and she even tried to be intimate with one of them but she could not enjoy it. She was stuck in her head the entre time and did not feel a thing so she faked it. She left right away and dodged his calls for weeks until he stopped calling and that was that.

Now she was in Damon Salvatore's arms and surrounded by the smell of his cologne. It was spicy and sharp but with some soft undertones. Her hands were around his neck and in his hair and he was sexy as hell. She felt it and she wanted him. God, she wanted him. His lips and hands were devouring every inch of her making her lose every rational thought she might have had left and she surrendered to the pleasure.

She moaned when she felt his hand brushing against the inside of her thigh then moving higher to reach the hem of her dress but he did not stop there. He kept moving his hand upwards taking the dress with him to reveal more and more of her skin.

His mouth left hers to trail a path of kisses along her jaw, down her neck to her covered shoulder.

She was out of breath clutching the collar of his jacket to steady herself.

He slid the fabric of her dress away from her shoulder and kissed the newly uncovered skin but he seemed to not get enough as he started to uncover more of her until her arms and her chest were bare to his eyes and the dress, just an abandoned ring of fabric around her narrow waist. He stopped moving and stood staring for a moment when he revealed her breasts. She was not wearing a bra because according to Caroline; it was a fashion crime to wear one with a backless dress plus the dress already had built-in support. She felt her cheeks heat up at his stare and to turn his attention away from her, she pushed his jacket off his shoulders then started working on the buttons of his shirt. At her movement, he seemed to remember what he was doing and resumed his ministrations. She sucked in a breath when his hand found the silky fabric of her underwear. She could not take it anymore; she had to speed things up.

Leaving half of his buttons still unopened, she moved to his pants and in a flick found her way inside and wrapped her hand around him. No underwear, as expected, she smiled to herself. A hiss slipped his lips at the contact and his breath tickled the skin underneath her ear where he was kissing and licking and driving her insane with want.

"Now!" She whispered but he clearly heard her as he pushed her against the nearest wall and pulled one of her legs to wrap it around his hips. She bucked her hips when she felt him against her. But he stopped her movement. "Wait." He reached into his pocket to pull out a condom. He slipped it on in a blink before he pushed her underwear to the side and entered her with one swift thrust.

She cried out loud and was thanking the heavens that no one could hear them because she had no chance of keeping quiet and she did not want to. The feeling of him inside of her was nearly too much and once he started moving in a steady rhythm, she cried with every thrust.

Her eyes were clamped shut as her body tried to weather the intensity but she wanted to see him. She wanted to look into his eyes for the little time she had with him. For this brief moment, he was hers… hers alone. She forced her lids open and found him staring back at her. His eyes were blue fire. They burned her but their burn only added to the pleasure. She was falling over the edge and into the abyss that was black and blue, ice cold and hot like fire all at once.

When she returned to reality panting and gasping, he was finishing his own release Them they dropped to the floor in a tangled heap of limbs.

They lay in silence trying to catch their breaths. Elena gulped mouthfuls of air that smelled like his cologne and her perfume mixed together with the scent of their lovemaking. She did not want this to end. She buried her face in his chest and closed her eyes trying to savor the moment.

"That was great," he said after a while and just like that, she came crashing back to reality. Her high spirits from before had evaporated and she was left feeling… empty.

* * *

**Damon**

"Yes, it was," she said with a monotone voice like she did not mean it at all. She got up and started pulling her dress back on to cover her chest and tugged the skirt back down to cover her hips.

"What are you doing?" He asked trying to make sense of her actions as he lifted himself to lean on his elbows while he watched her move around trying to find her scattered belongings.

"Getting dressed. You should do the same." Her braid was partly unraveled. She pulled out her hair tie and tied the hair back in a loose knot. She looked around and when she found what she was looking for, she ducked down to retrieve it; her purse.

All this time she had not looked at him once but now she finally turned around to face him keeping her eyes to his face. "There's a class at five thirty so try to get out before then and you can just let the door close behind you. It locks automatically"

He was speechless as he stared at her. She was leaving him half naked in a yoga studio in Brooklyn. He must have looked completely stupid because she sighed and walked back to kneel in from of him. She cupped his jaw and placed a chaste kiss to his lips. "It was a good night. Thank you, Damon." That was it; she stood up and left not looking back once. What the hell! She basically wished him a good life and what was with the "it was a _good_ night"? She did not even think it was more than just _good_?

He called his driver and started putting his clothes back on in a daze. He, Damon Salvatore, womanizer, breaker of hearts who had been with countless women over the years, the one who basically invented the concept of a one-night-stand was literally used and discarded like an old pair of underwear.

He got played.

* * *

AN: Soooo, what do you think?


	11. Aftershocks

AN: Thank you for your response to the last chapter. You guys keep on inspiring me. This is the next chapter as promised. I hope you like it.

Love you all,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Aftershocks**

**Damon**

_Saturday night:_

She was blond, tall and pale, a model and the definition of beauty. He did not care. He never did. She was a woman though who was right there in his bed. Right now, she was screaming her third climax and he was getting stressed. What was wrong with him? He knew what he was supposed to feel at the erotic sight of her writhing in his arms but the feeling was nowhere to be found. He would be bored if he was not secretly panicking over his lack of reaction to the sexual stimulation. He had a damn reputation to uphold, hence the generous amount of orgasms. He hoped that he could exhaust her so much that she would not remember his failure.

_Sunday morning:_

Muscles burning, lungs struggling, the sound of his trainers hitting the treadmill as he ran pushing himself to keep on going. He had been working out for almost two hours and he intended on keeping at it even if he ended up collapsing from exhaustion. Physical activity was the next best thing after sex to keep his head clear of any unnecessary thinking. As sex was not an option at the moment, he had to find alternative ways of distraction.

_Sunday night:_

He was probably drinking too much too fast. He did not care. He was floating on a cloud of numbness. He saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing. Until his stomach made itself known and a wave of nausea hit him, hard. The next thing he felt was the heaving agony of every drop burning its way back through his esophagus as he retched the alcohol into the porcelain toilet bowl in his bathroom. What a pathetic sight he must be, kneeling on the floor of his bathroom hugging the toilet and throwing his guts up. _He_ was pathetic. He was sick of himself. He was sick of being drunk… being numb.

_Monday afternoon:_

"Andy, I need your help." He held the phone to his ear as he talked to the only person who might know what to do about his… situation.

"What's wrong, Damon?" She sounded concerned.

"Can you just be here tonight?" His tone was indifferent.

"Sure, whatever you need."

He hung up without another word.

_Monday night:_

He could feel it. It just did not work like it was supposed to. The general stayed completely unresponsive to any of Andy's usually highly effective tricks. For the last half hour or so, she had been working vigorously to try and revive him with no luck. She flicked her tongue one last time. "Honey, this is _not_ gonna happen tonight," she said before she got up and crawled to lie next to him accepting defeat.

"Shit." This was his last option. If Andy could not do it then he might as well shave his head, adorn his orange robes, announce his celibacy and spend his days counting rice grains.

"Who is she?" Andy was looking at him, her head propped on her hand.

"What do you mean?" He knew what she meant but he was trying to stall. She was too smart for her own good and he knew she would figure it out. He trusted her but there was no way in hell, he would admit to being played… by an amateur.

"Well it must be one hell of a woman who can put a man like you out of business." A strange look passed her features but she settled on a knowing smile.

"How do I fix it?" He groaned and buried his head in his pillow.

"You can't fix it…" "What the fuck, Andy, find me a way," he interrupted. He could not live the rest of his life like _this_.

"…listen to me, Damon. She is the only one who can _fix it_."

* * *

**Elena**

_Tuesday afternoon:_

She was in her room, sitting on her bed with her laptop searching for open journalist positions. With her rapidly filling résumé, she hoped to find a better position to bring her closer to her dream job. She had a bit of a hard time focusing though as her thoughts kept drifting off. The last couple of days, she managed to complete a record amount of work. She was super focused and very inspired the whole time. She had not felt this good in a long time. Today was different; her mind kept playing the events of Friday night behind her eyes like a movie.

She could not believe the way she had acted like someone else had possessed her body and made her do things she would never do. She did not regret anything though. She felt empowered thinking about the way she just went after what she wanted and she wanted him. Right now with no alcohol in her system, she felt the heat rising in her cheeks when she remembered how she wrapped her hand around him and demanded to have him right then and there. At the same time, she felt strong and sexy to be able to go after her desires.

A knock on her door interrupted her train of thought. "Come in," she said and Bonnie opened the door.

"Do you have some time to talk?" She asked.

"Sure come on in."

Bonnie closed the door and walked to the bed. She sat on the edge facing Elena. Her face was set in a serious expression.

"What's going on Bonnie?"

"How long are you going to stay mad at Caroline?" Of course it was about Caroline. Elena sighed. They had been avoiding each other since Friday night but Elena was not exactly mad at her. She just did not want to talk to her.

"I'm not mad at her, Bonnie."

"Really, then why aren't you talking to her?" Bonnie said skeptically.

"Because she judges me even though she is not remotely better," and she saw her kissing Damon who she went on and… "Making out with Damon Salvatore is hardly the same as dating Stefan."

"She told you?!" Of course she would. Caroline could never keep a secret even if her life depended on it, especially not a juicy one like that and now they were going to gang op on her to make her see reason.

"Elena, we're your friends and we're just trying to look out for you. If you want to start dating again I could hook you up with this nice guy who works at the hospital…" Elena felt the tell-tale signs of anger cursing through her. She truly loved her friends, they were everything to her but sometimes, she wanted to strangle them, like right now. "… and Caroline said she knows someo…"

"Stop!" Bonnie stopped mid-sentence at her outburst.

"What the hell, Bonnie? I'm not some desperate girl who hasn't had any in a while and just hooked up with the first guy she found." Bonnie stayed silent as she went on. "I know who I am and what I want and I know what he is probably more than any one of you two… honestly Bonnie, I didn't expect you to judge me too." Her voice dropped in disappointment when she said the last sentence.

"You're right. You're perfectly capable of making your own decisions. I'm sorry." Bonnie put her hand on top of hers and looked her in the eyes as she apologized. "We just love you, Elena, and sometimes we get carried away trying to keep you from getting hurt." The last of her anger dissipated at her friend's words. She pulled her closer and wrapped her arms around her. Bonnie hugged her back as Elena told her, she loved them too.

"So, was it good?" Bonnie said with feigned innocence when they finally pulled away from each other.

"What was good?" Elena was confused at the sudden change of subject.

"The kiss, was it any good?" Bonnie repeated.

Understanding dawned on her and she could not hold back a laugh at her friend's audacity. She felt that new courage slash rebellion poking its head out. "The kiss, the dance, the sex… were all mind-blowing." She grinned and held back her breath awaiting Bonnie's reaction to that bombshell. She was awarded with the most comical expression; Bonnie's jaw literally dropped leaving her mouth wide open as she stared at Elena like she just sprouted horns.

"Oh My God! You slept with him?!" Bonnie finally recovered from her shock.

"Yes, and it was amazing but it's never going to happen again so you can rest assured that I won't start dating him or anything."

"But… but you slept with him?" Bonnie asked again like she still did not believe it.

"Yeah, why?"

"Elena you haven't been on a _date_ in years and all of a sudden you sleep with a guy you just met?"

"It wasn't like that. I didn't plan it or anything. We just talked and danced and then we took the subway and… " "You took the subway?" Bonnie interrupted. "Yeah, and we had this magical moment down in the tunnel and suddenly I felt like kissing him again and then one thing led to another."

"In the tunnel?"

"No in the yoga-studio."

"Then what happened?"

"Nothing, I put my clothes back on and told him to get out before five thirty."

"Oh my God," Bonnie said again before she started laughing.

"What?"

"You left him right after you had sex in the yoga studio, Elena, he probably thinks you played him," she said and succumbed to a fit of giggles.

Elena remembered that she was kind of cold and reserved before she left him there, his shirt partly open and his hair messy from her hands running through it. She had tried to avoid looking at him too much because every time she did, he took her breath away. Her mind knew that she could never have him for herself but another part deep inside of her longed to explore this strange connection that kept pulling them towards each other. She could not let herself think that way though so she slammed the door shut on her emotions and ran away from there as fast as possible.

She realized that Bonnie might be right and she felt a tinge of guilt before she remembered who he was. Damon Salvatore, the biggest player in town and she started laughing right along with her friend. Maybe that would teach him a lesson.

_Friday evening:  
_

She and Caroline had finally made up. She did not tell her about her little adventure though and she made Bonnie promise that she would not tell her either. She was not ready to start defending herself again and maybe start another fight.

Caroline was clearly trying to make an effort to clear the air and make good. She was actually trying too hard, Elena thought because she made her agree to meet Stefan in a casual setting to try and get to know him. Elena was not the least bit interested but she had to make an effort too so she gave in.

They invited him for dinner at the apartment and Caroline made sure to order Chinese food because none of them could cook half a decent meal. Caroline was so stressed the whole day, she kept ordering them to do stuff and they just did it because a stressed Caroline was like a faulty grenade waiting to explode with any slight touch.

They were all dressed and Caroline was in the kitchen arranging the last details while Elena and Bonnie set the table when the bell rang. Caroline came running out of the kitchen and pressed the button to the intercom. It was indeed Stefan so she buzzed him in and opened the door to greet him even as he was still making his way up the stairs.

When he finally reached their floor and walked to their door, he gave Caroline a peck on the cheek before he turned his attention to Bonnie and Elena. He was holding a bottle of wine that Caroline took from him as she waved her hand at each of them telling him their names. He gave them each a hand shake and a "nice to meet you" and so far so good.

He was polite and well spoken. Throughout dinner they kept the conversation flowing on safe subjects and Elena thought he was nice, his eyes were kind and he seemed to be as smitten with Caroline as she was with him.

"So how did you guys start seeing each other?" Bonnie asked Stefan while Caroline was back in the kitchen getting desert.

He smiled at the thought. "Well when I first saw her, I did not dare to approach her and I thought that I would never have a chance with her, given the circumstances…" He looked at Elena apologetically. "Then when she came to my office two days later, I thought it must be fate giving me another chance and…" "She came to your office?" Elena interrupted. Something was nagging at her to remember, something she _needed_ to remember.

"Yes, when she told me about the canapés and my brother's stupidity. So anyway, when I dropped the case I kind of looked at the file and found your address so I could come here and tell her myself…"

Elena was not listening anymore. She finally remembered. Before they started making out, Damon was yelling at her, something about her sending her friend to turn his brother against him. She did not understand at the time but now it all made sense. Caroline had gone behind her back and made Stefan drop the case.

Suddenly the air was thicker and her throat was closing in. She was suffocating. She excused herself breathlessly and ran to her room passing Caroline who was carrying four deserts on her way. When she finally closed her bedroom door behind her, she felt the air starting to ease up a bit. She hurried to the window, opened it widely and stuck her whole upper body outside. She gulped in breath after breath reveling in the feel of air filling up her lungs again. She felt her pulse start to return back to normal and her breathing evened out.

She stayed like that her hands perched on the windowsill, holding herself up and looking at the sky. Even the New York air probably filled with all kinds of fumes and toxins felt better than the confined air in the apartment.

* * *

AN: So what did you think about the chapter and the kind of different build?


	12. Deals are Broken, Deals are Made

AN: Hello my dear readers. Thank you for last time's alerts and reviews. I can see that some of you did not like what Elena did in chapter 10 and I understand that but believe me; I am a slave to my characters and what happened needed to happen for the characters to go where they need to go. I hope this does not discourage you from reading though. Now without further ado, here is the next chapter.

Happy reading,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter 12: Deals are Broken, Deals are Made**

**Damon**

He felt stupid, and tired. Stupid because he was here and tired because sleep was a foreign concept not acknowledged by his brain. A permanent headache had moved into his skull with no hope of ever leaving it again. He had to do this or he might end up in a psychiatric ward, strapped to a bed.

He was staring at a door. It was not just any door though. He had a personal relationship with this particular door. He loathed it. To any other person, it was probably just a regular old door but it held the answer to all his problems

Time was moving really slow now that he had nothing to kill it with. As a kid, he used to stare at the clock in class and try to wish the hands to move faster but they seemed to move even slower just to spite him. He looked at his watch for the hundredth time this morning; 6:25. Just five more minutes, he thought.

Three weeks had passed and those last five minutes were the hardest. Three weeks of memories attacking him at every waking hour. He had no way of defending himself against them. None of his usual remedies were at hand. With sleep completely out of the picture, he spent some time working out or he sat in his car and told the driver to just… drive, nowhere and everywhere.

Last night was one of those. They had been driving for hours and he even managed to drift off a couple of times to the slow movements of the car and the low murmur of the radio. The lights of the city moved along the leather car seats until the sun came up and all the other little lights cowered away. Early rising New Yorkers swarmed the streets but it was nothing compared to the rush coming in a few hours.

He thought about this, a lot. He was stuck and she was the only one who could free him to move forward. At least Andy thought so, but he had no better explanation. Yes, they had a deal, so what? People broke deals and made new ones all the time. That was it. He could convince her to make a new deal. God, he was bad at this. Women usually flocked to him. He never actually had to pursue any of them.

What the hell, he knew he had the looks and he certainly had the money, she would never say no to him. That night, she had wanted him. He saw it in her eyes before she screamed it out into the night when he had her against that wall.

He was Damon Salvatore and seduction was his calling. A girl like her had no chance in hell against his perfectly honed skills.

The door finally opened and out came a woman with a high ponytail and a pink rolled yoga-mat under her arm, then another one and another one. They kept pouring out, all chatting and laughing before they parted ways on the sidewalk and headed in different directions.

The women stopped coming out of the door but the one he was waiting for had not left yet, or she was not even there to begin with, he thought. No, she had to be there, she was too passionate about her yoga-class to skip it. Maybe he mixed up the days, but he was sure she said Monday morning.

6:45 and he was still waiting. She had to be there, he knew she was.

The door swung open and there she was, pushing the heavy door open with her back as she had her arms buried to the elbows in a huge bag. He could not see her face for the curtain of straight brown locks that descended her neck and shoulders to end up flirting with the top of her slender waist.

The sight of her felt like a punch to the stomach like everything he felt that Friday night and during the last three weeks formed a fist and dove right into his guts. He realized that he had no idea what to say to her. _Come on Salvatore, don't be a wimp_. He could do this. She was just a girl and he was Damon Salvatore.

He took a deep breath before he opened the door and got out of the car.

* * *

**Elena**

She was looking for her phone as she pushed the door open. She was a bit later than usual and she still had a million things to do before work. There it was. She pulled out her phone and started dialing work, maybe she could come in later. She did not need to be there early today anyway. She took the phone to her ear and tucked her hair behind the other ear and gasped.

Right across the street, the car door of a parked SUV with dark tinted windows opened and out stepped none other than one dark-haired, blue-eyed celebrity. Dressed in black from head to toe as usual, he looked from side to side then crossed the street heading straight towards her.

She dropped her phone.

When she had picked it up and straightened out, he was right in front of her.

"Good morning, beautiful." He gave her that arrogant smirk of his. He was back to being an asshole then.

She sighed. She really did not have time for this.

"What are you doing here?"

"You know, it is polite to return a greeting."

"Good morning, Damon," she said with a forced smile.

"See? Much better," he said.

"Why are you here? I thought we had a deal."

"We did but we need to reevaluate the terms," he said and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Why?"

"Because I was not… In my head when I agreed to them." He hesitated a bit before he said the last part like it pained him to admit it.

"… and why is that my problem?" She crossed her arms. She was not going to make this easy for him.

"Well… it just is." She could tell that he was running out of arguments.

"You know what, Damon. I really don't have time for this right now." She looked at her phone to see the time and made a move to leave. "… maybe we can do this another time."

"Wait!" He grabbed her arm to stop her and her skin burned with his touch. "Go out with me… on a date," he said and all former pretenses were gone from his face, leaving it open to her and kind of vulnerable.

She was speechless for a moment. She never expected him to say _that_ yet here he was waiting nervously for her answer. She thought he never got nervous.

"No…" She said and his face fell before he let go of her arm and started to pull back and rearrange his face into his usual indifferent look. "… I won't go on a date with you but I'm going to go running tomorrow morning and if you want, you can join me." She held her breath. It was a wild idea, really. Why would he come all the way to Brooklyn to jog?

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, where should I meet you?"

"Right here, then we can jog to the park two blocks away."

"See you at six then," he kept looking her in the eyes a heartbeat longer before he turned around and headed to his car.

What the hell did she just agree to? She had promised herself that Damon Salvatore was nothing more than an adventure she could look back on and smile at before returning to reality. She was definitely never going to date him. He was too messed up and she did not really need a guy with issues, God knew she had enough of her own.

But why would he want to date _her_. She considered herself pretty but she was no miss universe and she knew for a fact that he had been with models and actresses surpassing her far in beauty. If it was not looks then why else would he go for her? Then she remembered Bonnie's theory about him thinking that she played him and suddenly everything made sense. He probably wanted revenge by returning the favor. Well, she was never going to give him the satisfaction. One thing, she was and all those other girls probably were not was smart and she could spot his seduction tricks miles away.

He could just bring it on.

* * *

AN: You might have noticed the story name change from _From Hate to Love_ to _Intertwined. _I think this name suits the story more because it is so much more than just two people hating each other then falling in love. The story has several story lines and characters that are all intertwined, hence the new name.

I hope you like this new change but please tell me if you do or don't and also what you think of this chapter.


	13. Blood is Thicker than Water

AN: Thank you guys so much for your sweet reviews. Your words and thoughts make me so happy and they are honestly the highlights of my week. I can't believe we are already on chapter 13, but time flies and here it is for your enjoyment.

Love you all,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter 13: Blood is Thicker than Water**

**Damon**

He was going out running with her? What was it with this girl and the things she made him do? He never went outside to run. He was perfectly content with his 10.000 dollar treadmill. Also, why did he ask her on a date? He had never been on a date in his life not even as a teenager but the question just popped out of his mouth when he thought she was going to leave. He must have sounded desperate. He _was_ desperate, dammit.

The elevator doors opened to his penthouse and the clinking of glass sounded from the living room. Someone was already here. He walked the few steps to the living room to find the intruder sitting on the couch, his legs crossed and his one arm stretched along the back. He had already helped himself to a glass of scotch which he was balancing on the armrest, as he stared at the amber liquid.

"How did you get in here?" Damon asked irritatedly.

The man whose last name he shared lifted his gaze from the glass and looked at him, his face showing nothing but hard lines and green unexpressive eyes. "I own the building," he said simply.

Damon thought he had to go through this anyway and now was as good a time as any even though he would rather not have this conversation at all.

"Why did you come?" He walked closer to the couch but stayed on the opposite side of the coffee table.

"Your brother stopped bringing me your news, he seems to be distressed."

"Stefan needs to get over himself."

Giuseppe put the glass on the table and stood op. "Congratulations, Damon. You finally managed to alienate yourself from your family."

"What family?"

"You need to stop doing that, son."

"What?" Damon managed to keep his voice devoid of any emotion even though his insides were churning.

"Wallowing in the past…" He walked to the window and watched the New York skyline. The sun was all the way up now its rays reflecting on the glass of the skyscrapers. "… I've let you do it long enough." He turned back around to face Damon. "You need to get back to your life."

"What life?"

"They died almost a year ago, Damon. You have to let go now."

"Don't!"

"Don't what? Don't talk about it? Well you need to hear it. We've coddled you enough."

"Shut up."

"Katherine and Daniel are gone…"

"Shut up!"

"… Wake up and move on."

"Shut the _fuck_ up and leave… NOW!" He yelled. His plan of staying cool and unaffected was shot to hell.

"I'm already leaving but I'll be waiting for you to come to me and ask for your job back." He walked out of the living room and Damon heard the elevator ding.

"Don't hold your breath," he whispered to the empty room.

An incessant burn started in his stomach and spread like venom to the rest of his body. When it reached the very tips of his fingers, he took his hands up and looked at them. They were shaking. _He_ was shaking. He clenched his hands into fists and tried to hold still.

It did not work.

Why did he have to bring it up, say their names? Why would he not just leave him alone? He looked down and found the scotch still on the table. He took it up and the smell of sweet oblivion drifted to his nose. He could drink this and regain control, banish every memory back to the darkest recesses of his mind.

No!

He could not go back to numbing himself. He needed to find control without this. He was still shaking, the liquid sloshing around in the glass. He clutched it tightly then found himself throwing it against the wall, the crystal tumbler shattering into pieces.

The burning intensified around his lungs. He realized that he was not breathing. He sucked in a shaking breath as his knees gave out and he landed on the floor.

It was too quiet and too loud, too dark and too bright…

* * *

_Two years ago:_

A loud wail shook him to the core and filled his heart with the most unprecedented joy. After months of pain this _very _loud little creature was finally out into the world. A nurse with a kind face lined with the evidence of a lifetime of smiles and wearing pink scrubs held the little bundle of fabric with a tiny human being inside out to him.

"I… I don't know…" His voice was small and weak.

"It's okay, honey. Just support his head like that." She showed him where to put his arms as he held onto the little bundle and stared into the face of…

His son.

* * *

He could not take it. He was too weak. There was only one way to stop this agony.

He could not stand. His legs refused to carry him but he managed to crawl closer to the couch and lift the cushion to reveal his emergency stash. He pulled out a bottle, broke the seal, unscrewed the cap and guzzled down half of it.

There, now everything was going to be okay.

* * *

**Stefan**

Stefan left the company earlier than usual. He found out that his father had paid a visit to his brother and knowing them both too well, Stefan expected the worst so he had to check on his brother. He would rather have done it as soon as he found out but he was tied up in meeting after meeting the whole day. He barely managed to get through them all without embarrassing himself as his mind kept straying to whatever kind of state he would find his brother in.

Damon always had a bad reaction to their father's pressure and Giuseppe was a very demanding man. This time Stefan was sure their encounter had some disastrous effect on his brother because of the state he was already in.

For a year now, Damon had been spiraling, aiming for rock bottom and Stefan had to stand by and watch, not able to do more than be there in the morning with a couple of Aspirin. Even though he had no chance of easing his brother's mental pain, he could at least take care of his physical pain.

All this time Stefan knew that his brother was hurting himself but it was his choice and he could not do anything about it other than try and talk to him. Then he found out about the drugs and suddenly everything was completely different. Damon was deliberately hurting other people, dragging them down with him and although Stefan would always support his brother, he could never support him hurting others.

Stefan was angry at Damon for giving up on life and humanity in general and angry at himself for not being able to help. He was angry at their father for making everything even more difficult but mostly he was angry at circumstance for dealing his family such horrible cards.

He sighed remembering how they heard about their mother's accident. They were in school and in the middle of third period, they were called to the principal's office. Stefan thought he was in trouble.

When they arrived, they were ushered hurriedly inside and placed on two uncomfortable chairs facing the principal sitting behind his desk. He was wiping the sweat off his forehead as he cleared his throat and started telling them about the accident. Seven year old Stefan felt the tears slide down his cheeks at the thought of something bad happening to his mother and he looked at his brother for reassurance. He wanted him to say that everything was going to be okay but Damon stayed silent.

The principal told them that their father had called and said that he was going to send a car for them so they stayed in the office waiting for the car. Stefan sniffling quietly and Damon staring into space during the half hour's wait. Even in the car on the way to L.A., Damon did not say a word. He just kept staring out the window.

The sound of a loud ding shook him out of his thoughts and the elevator doors slid open into Damon's penthouse. Stefan stepped inside holding his breath for what he would find. The apartment was dark and quiet like there was no one there but he had asked the doorman if Damon was home and he had assured him that he had not left the building since he came home early in the morning.

He made his way to the living room turning on lights as he walked. Once he flicked on the lights in the living room, he quickly scanned the space and his eyes fell on a discolored patch of wall with a pile of shattered glass underneath. He did not see his brother at first but then his eyes fell on a pair of boots sticking out from behind the couch. When he walked over there, he found his brother lying on the floor, a couple of empty bottles around him and a nearly empty one in his hand. His eyes were closed like he was sleeping.

Stefan kneeled down next to him and reached out to try and take the bottle from him but he took it out of his reach. "Well come on in, brother... but you know; it is polite to call before you visit someone." His words were slurred.

"I thought you were passed out."

"Nope, still here… Unfortunately."

"Come on; let me help you to your room." He helped him in a sitting position throwing his arm around his shoulders to support some of his weight then helped him to stand.

"Why? You already got over your self-righteous grudge? I thought it would last at least a couple of weeks more," he slurred as they slowly managed to walk to his bedroom, the bottle still hanging from his one hand.

Stefan thought things were better than he had expected. He had found his brother in much worse conditions before, this was nothing in comparison.

"It was not a grudge, Damon. What you did was wrong."

"… but you're talking to me again."

Stefan sighed as he turned on the lights in the bedroom, walking towards the bed. "Yes, well I found out that Giuseppe paid you a visit."

Damon snorted as he dropped onto the bed. "Yeah, the old man always knows how to fuck me up."

He was still fully clothed as he drifted off to sleep and Stefan did not want to wake him so he just pulled the covers over him and went to turn off the lights.

* * *

The days after their mother's death Stefan would stay up late, too scared to close his eyes and missing his mom so bad. He used to wrap himself in his blanket and sneak into his brother's room. Damon never turned him away. He just pulled the covers aside and let him climb in with him.

"I miss her," he would say and his tears starting to run.

"I miss her too," Damon would say.

"Why did she have to leave us? It's not fair," he would sniffle.

"I know." Damon would say as he held him. He was only ten but he stayed strong for his brother.

Stefan would cry himself to sleep and by morning, he would go back to his room before anyone noticed.

Their father never knew.

* * *

"Stefan!"

"Yeah?"

"I did not put drugs in the food."

"I know."

He did.

Damon did a lot of crap but he never lied to him. Right now he sounded as honest as ever. That did not mean that Caroline was lying though because he trusted her even though he had only known her for a short time. No, there must be some other explanation, he thought. Maybe someone else put the drugs in the food, someone who wanted Damon to take the blame. But who would hate him so much that they would want to put him in jail? Maybe, someone who wanted to hurt their father by ruining his reputation but then it could not be a coincidence that journalists got access to the party where someone had drugged the food. It all smelled like a conspiracy that Damon, his guests and Caroline and Elena were chess pieces in.

* * *

AN: I now you guys were waiting for the not-date in this chapter and I hope you don't hate me now for making you wait more but I have said it before; I am my character's slave and who knew that Giuseppe would choose that day in particular to pay Damon a visit? If you want to put the blame on someone then put it on him.

Joking aside, what did you think?... Rotten tomatoes are accepted ;)


	14. Shade

AN: You know what day it is? It's Sunday which means I have a new chapter for you and I am so excited for you to read it. By the way thank you so much for your alerts and reviews for the last chapter. You guys keep me going and I love you so much. Here you have the next chapter of _Intertwined_.

Happy reading,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter 14: Shade**

**Elena**

He did not show up. She waited by the studio for almost fifteen minutes but he never showed up and she ended up only running for twenty minutes. She should have expected that from someone like him but she could not help but feel a little disappointed. Maybe something happened and he had to stay, she thought but then again this was Damon Salvatore. He probably picked up some model in a club and spent the night with her forgetting everything about their… appointment.

Elena was not going to let that faze her though. She was not the one who asked for a _date_. He was the one who had approached her and if he changed his mind then that was his problem.

Today was going to be a good day. It was a great Sunday morning and she was in central park standing on a yoga mat, talking into a microphone, her voice was carrying over to the almost hundred people looking at her, standing on their own yoga mats and trying to imitate her movements. She kept the poses easy and simple enough for everyone to manage.

She opened her eyes for a moment and looked at all the faces watching her, concentrating on the movements of her body and trying to make their own bodies do the same. The positive energy was exhilarating. Her life was never better than those moments when her energy joined other people's energies and together they created this vibrant wave of positivity that consumed them all and washed away everything else in its wake.

She took a deep breath imagining the air run through every corner of her body, cleansing it then she released the air again as she let her arms descend to meet each other in front of her chest with her thumbs connected to each other and to the skin covering her sternum. She took a couple of more breaths before she opened her eyes and thanked everyone for being there.

The crowd surprised her when they started clapping and she felt both proud because they liked her class and a little embarrassed; after all she was getting something out of this too. She thanked them and tried to look each and every one of them in the eyes as she did so.

Looking at the crowd of chatting and smiling people on bright yoga mats, something caught her attention. Far away to the left back of the crowd under the shade of a big oak tree, there was someone looking very out-of-place in a dark hoodie and probably some shades. His hands were in his pockets and she could not make out his face that far away even if she could see anything under that hoodie.

She took off her microphone and took her water bottle with her as she navigated her way through the chatting crowd to the far left corner. Something about that person seemed familiar. It was the way he was standing; somehow he looked too confident and had too good a posture for someone who wore hoodies.

She finally reached the tree, he had been standing under but he was nowhere to be found. She tried to locate him looking in different directions with no use. Whatever, maybe she was just imagining things.

* * *

**Damon**

He was standing behind a large tree trunk observing her while she elegantly twisted her body into a downward dog, a warrior whatever and a lot of other poses that only looked good when she did them. The rest of the crowd struggled to keep up, all of them mesmerized by the ease and elegance of her movement and the calming sound of her voice.

He was right there along with them admiring her from afar in her little top and tiny shorts, her tanned skin glinting in the sunlight. She was sexy as hell and the fact that he already had a taste of her made it even worse. He should have drawn it out to make it last longer but that night, he was functioning on autopilot. Not because he was drunk, far from it but because she entranced him and the strange connection between them made everything surreal like he was dreaming. In dreams you would sometimes want to move or do things but your body would not listen to you, well that was how it felt.

She was in the middle of a _downward dog_ then she kicked her legs into the air and stood on her hands for a while her legs shooting straight up above her. Damn, those legs were a whole story for themselves. He remembered how that night, he had one wrapped around his hips. Now they were so far away. _She_ was too far away… she was unreachable.

What the hell?! She was out of his league. He could never have her again, hell, that Friday night must have been a fluke. She was a _good girl_; one of those girls brought up in the suburbs with mommy, daddy and a white picket fence. He imagined her as a happy kid wearing pink tights and a tutu to ballet lessons and later a teenager on the cheerleading squad with tiny tops and short skirts. Yeah, she was definitely not the kind that went to bars and clubs to pick up guys; the kind that he was used to.

Well that was history. He could not do the constant stream of one night stands anymore because sleeping with her this one time caused some kind of glitch in his system and now he could not perform. She was the only one who could fix him and he had blown the chance she gave him. He did not show up last Tuesday morning. He was still in bed sleeping off his last binge caused by his dear father. The guy had impeccable timing; he had to give him that.

When he finally realized that he had overslept, he wanted to kick himself back to dreamland. Then he remembered her Central Park summer classes – yeah they had covered a lot of topics that night – so he Googled the day and time and here he was; hiding behind this large tree watching her like some creepy stalker.

He never intended for her to see him though… well, maybe he did but when he saw her looking at him and then making her way towards him, he did not want to face her. For some reason, he cared about what she thought of him. He was a damn mess and he could not look into her eyes and see his reflection in them as the big fuck up he was. Why did he care so much? What made this girl so special to his fucked up mind?

He hurried away and found another tree to hide behind as he watched her look for him in every direction. What the fuck was wrong with him? He acted like a twelve year old with a crush on the neighbor's wife.

He stayed behind that tree even as she went back to the front of her slowly thinning crowd. She was packing up her gear with a couple of other women and by the time they were done, the crowd was gone and it was his last chance to talk to her before she left.

She was walking towards his tree along with two other women as they made their way out of the park. He waited until she was right in front of the tree before he called her name. She stopped walking and turned her head from side to side to locate his voice. He stepped away from the tree and lowered his shades to look at her. Her eyes flared in surprise when she recognized him.

"Elena, are you coming?" One of the other women called.

"No, you guys go ahead." She answered before she faced him with crossed arms and a questioning look.

* * *

**Elena**

"New look?" She asked her one eyebrow lifted in question.

"Nah, just a way to blend in," he smirked.

Sure because wearing all black, pants and a hoodie to the park on a hot Sunday morning in July is just the way to blend in. She got it though; he did not want to be recognized but why was he even there to begin with?

"Are you gonna tell me why you're here?"

He hesitated looking away for a moment then drawing his gaze back to her, he said; "I'm sorry about Tuesday morning. I had a… thing."

Really, a thing? That was his excuse for blowing her off? Well, it was nice of him to at least apologize, Elena scoffed silently.

"Was that it? 'cause I need to leave… I have a _thing_." That sounded way more snippy than she intended but what did he expect when he could not even manage a decent apology?

"Let me come with you," he said his gaze flicking like his own words surprised him.

"Really? You wanna come with me to stand in a mall and try to talk people into donating money?" She was daring him to say yes. He was so afraid of being recognized that he came to the park dressed like a serial killer. He would never voluntarily put himself in a crowded mall surrounded by thousands of people and no close by exits. It was a miracle, really that he let her drag him down to the subway station that fateful night. Thank God people did not know he would show up to that party so there were no paparazzi, just a lot of nosy reporters and envious gold diggers all asking the same question; "Who was this new Damon Salvatore victim?"

"Yes." It was this simple; just a three-letter-word that turned her thoughts upside down. She never meant for him to say yes. She never even considered the possibility yet there it was; that word… and his eyes looking her over, probably trying to decipher her reaction from the frozen features of her face.

She was maybe quiet for a bit too long as she tried to wrap her head around how the rest of her supposedly perfect day was unfolding; it was getting way too weird.

"Okay… C'mon then," she managed to stammer tucking her hair behind her ear and moving to walk towards the exit. She heard him step beside her without another word.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading I hope you liked the chapter. I am sorry to say this but real life is a b**** and college is even more so which means I don't have as much time to write as I would like. That is why I have to update once a week instead of twice but I will leave it to you to decide what day you want me to update. Feel free to tell me in that little box down to the right ;) Also please tell me what you thought about the chapter. It really means the world to me.


	15. Hidden Talent

AN: Thank you so so so much for all your alerts and reviews. You always manage to put a smile on my face and inspire me to write. A special shout-out to my guest reviewers; I can't reply to you personally so I just want to thank you for your very kind words. Here you have the next chapter of _Intertwined._

Love you all,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter 15: Hidden Talent**

**Elena**

Never in her life did she imagine the mighty Damon Salvatore with his custom-made all black clothes wearing a bright green T-shirt with the biggest logo printed on the back; hands holding each other to form a circle with a big heart in the middle. The _Hand In Hand Foundation _was written in bold letters to the right on the front and in the middle above the logo on the back.

When she first reached inside a box and grabbed two T-shirts for the both of them then passed one to him, he took it with a disgusted look. "Are you kidding?"

"Suck it up, Mister," she said laughing at his expression. "…besides; green might suit you."

He sighed loudly then took off his hoodie and put the T-shirt on without any more complaining. She averted her eyes pulling her own T-shirt over her head on top of her tank top.

They were in a huge mall on the outskirts of the city. It was close to neighborhoods that were considered wealthy so there was a bigger chance of finding people willing to donate.

They took a taxi and it took ages for them to get there because of the hellish traffic but he would probably never take the subway again and honestly, she did not want to ask him to. They spent the whole ride staring out of each their window and when they finally got there, he insisted on paying for the ride.

It was so strange watching him there in their tiny little stand when they replaced Sandra who had the stand before them. Elena could not help but notice the extra look, Sandra shot his way when she saw them before she informed them that things were slow during her shift and they should not expect a lot of donations.

Elena took a stack of leaflets, split it in half and gave him his own stack. "So, we're gonna try to get people's attention and if they seem interested we tell them about the cause and how they can make a contribution. Everything is already in the leaflets so you might want to read one." He looked at the top leaflet in his stack.

"For the homeless?"

"Yes, there are more than 50,000 homeless people who sleep in the New York shelters every night. More than 20,000 of them are kids."

"How do people donate?"

"Well, there is more than one way you can tell people about. They can do it with their phones, on our website or they can do it now, in cash."

"Got it, so where should I stand?"

Yeah, she had thought about that and found that the best thing to do was for them to stand on each side of the stand. Just to cover more space, she told herself. The truth was; she could not stand too close to him for a longer period of time. It was too exhausting to be this aware of him next to her all the time and keeping a safe six-foot distance between them was the only way, she could get through this day.

Things started up slow. There were not many people walking past their stand and the few who did were in a hurry and did not even spare them a glance as they rushed to do whatever it was they needed to do. Elena kept looking behind her to see how he was doing but he seemed fine. A couple of times, she caught him watching her but she told herself, he was just trying to learn from her how to get people to stop and listen for a minute.

After an hour of no donations to speak off, Elena thought they could just stay for an hour more because this was a waste of time. She turned around to check on Damon and found him talking to a woman. She was wearing a formal suit, her shoes and handbag a fancy designer label that Caroline would go crazy over. She was staring at him and nodding her head eagerly. He handed her a leaflet and pointed at some of the information in it while he talked. 20 seconds later, the woman grabbed a checkbook from her bag and started writing on it.

He was focused on the woman and her check but then he turned his head and caught her looking. His eyes locked with hers and he smiled then he lifted his eyebrows and shifted his eyes in the direction of the woman as he mouthed "5.000 dollars" to her. Her own eyebrows shot in the air at the ridiculously amazing amount and he shot her that infuriatingly arrogant smirk of his.

When the woman finished writing her check, he winked and returned his focus to her, leaving Elena shocked and a little bit annoyed because she had never gotten such a huge donation before even though she had always prided herself on being one of the best in that field.

She needed to step up her game.

After that woman, things started to flow more easily and Elena found herself getting really great donations out of people but she did not manage anything close to 5,000 dollars.

Whenever she looked at Damon, she found him talking with someone or a group of someones, most of them usually women. He did not tell her how much they donated but she could tell that he got some great amounts by the looks of hose women and his frequent use of their little box for cash and checks.

Time flew by and when the stores started closing up, Elena looked at the time; 10 pm. They had been working for more than 8 hours without breaks or food. Right then her stomach made itself known with the loudest growl ever. She was hungry and her feet hurt like hell but she felt great about what they had achieved; 12,000 dollars. The majority of which came through Damon and that was without counting in the electronic transactions.

She was in their stand with the donations box in her lap as she counted and rearranged the money and checks. He appeared in front of her and leaned on the tiny round table. "How are you this good at this?" She asked looking up from her counting and meeting his gaze.

"You weren't that bad yourself," he said lightly.

"Yeah, I'm good at it but you can make miracles."

He turned a bit more serious as he contemplated her question then he said: "In my world, you have to be a good speaker to survive." His voice was low and it had a sort of heaviness to it. That sentence was loaded with much more meaning than what the actual words conveyed. She felt that he did not want to say more about that so she did not press.

She slammed the lid back on the box and locked it getting ready to leave. "Should we go grab some food?" She asked casually.

His head snapped to her. "Sure, why not," he said.

* * *

**Damon**

She said she knew a good place to eat. He did not know what he expected but it was definitely not that; a small hole-in-the-wall place across the road from the mall. It said _Shawarma House_ with bold fluorescent letters on the front and inside there were three round tables and one long high table with high stools to match. Everything looked greasy and a guy was wiping one of the tables with an old rag that seemed to spread the grease rather than remove it.

How did people eat here?

But all three tables were actually occupied and a few people were scattered along the long table.

Elena went to make her order talking to a middle-aged man with a round belly and a strong accent standing next to a tall _shish kebab_, he believed it was called. "Two rolls please… and what do you want to drink?" The last part was directed at him.

"Whatever you're getting," he said as he wondered how he could skip the eating part without hurting her feelings.

"Okay two rolls, a bowl of fries and two cokes, thank you."

Five minutes later, they were already perched on two stools with a large bowl of fries in between them and each a wrap in their hand. She was already peeling the paper cover off the top of her wrap getting ready to eat.

He was holding his in one hand looking at it suspiciously. Who knew what kind of germs were hiding inside that thing?

"Aren't you going to eat?" She asked but what would he say? That he was too scared of little invisible creatures that could give him all kinds of horrible diseases? No way in hell.

He started peeling the paper off his own wrap and brought it to his mouth. "It's good I promise," she said with a strange twinkle in her eyes. Great, he must have made a face. He gathered his courage and took a healthy bite.

Wow, that was good; meat, bread and whole lot of flavor. He had not eaten anything since early morning so he dug in and it was the most satisfying meal in his life.

They ate in comfortable silence enjoying the food. That girl could eat, he thought. She finished her roll in ten minutes and ordered two new ones for them. He tried not to watch her too much but she was so enticing. Concentrating on her roll like it was the most important thing for her at the moment. She took another bite leaving a blotch of white sauce on the corner of her mouth. She did not notice though as she kept eating but he kept staring at her lips. His hand seemed to move on its own towards her and when she noticed it slowly reaching for her, her gaze left the roll in her hand and landed on his hand then traveled all the way up to his lips and then to his eyes.

He finally reached the corner of her mouth and with his thumb, he wiped the sauce away. Then like in a trance, he brought his hand to his own mouth and licked the sauce off. All this time, their eyes stayed locked on each other. Time stood still for that moment like the world was holding a breath. She was certainly holding her breath because suddenly she released it shakily but then the spell broke when she wrenched her gaze away.

She grabbed their empty roll paper and used napkins and went to throw them in the trash. Then she took her purse and went to pay the bill but he had already expected her to do that and beat her to it, paying the bill himself.

She tried to object but he refused to listen so she accepted defeat and they left the place. They tried to find a taxi with no luck and she suggested that they walk to the subway station but he had a better idea. He had already called his driver to come pick him up before they went to eat and he was already on the way. They just needed to wait a little.

She agreed reluctantly to wait with him instead of taking the subway on her own and they were just walking in silence when she said it.

"I'm sorry about your problem with your brother. I found out that my friend went to his office and told him about the food without telling me."

He did not say anything. Her words surprised him. He never expected any apology from her, especially not about something that was not her fault. Yes, he believed that there were drugs in the food and that she did not know about her friend talking to his brother. Maybe he should not trust her but he did believe she was honest with him. He was a dick to her back then and there was no reason for her to spare his feelings. If she wanted to tell his brother or write about it in the article, she would have done it.

"My brother and I, we fixed things," he said after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Really? That's amazing." She sounded happy; really honestly happy for him.

"Yeah… can I ask you something?" Maybe he should not ask her. He was not even sure that he wanted to know.

"Sure," she said pulling her cardigan tighter around her tiny frame. It was a bit chilly and she was still only wearing a tank top underneath her cardigan that looked too thin to keep her warm.

He took off that hideous hoodie; he somehow decided on wearing that morning and covered her shoulders with it. She tried to object but he gave her a stern look. "Please." Her objections died on her tongue and she tucked her arms through the sleeves pulling the zipper all the way up to her chin.

She looked so small in it. He could probably fit two of her inside and it would still be too big. The sleeves covered her hands but she did not seem to mind. She stuck her fingers out and grabbed the fabric on the end of the sleeves to prevent it from covering her hands completely.

"What did you want to ask?" She said and it took him a moment to remember what they were talking about.

"Why didn't you write about the drugs in your article?" There, he said it. He steeled himself to hear her answer. She stayed silent. When he looked at her, he found her deep in thought. That was not very promising.

"Honestly, I don't know. There was just this voice in my head that told me not to," she finally said.

Thank the heavens for the voices in her head, he thought. But then she probably still thought that he had put those drugs in the food and he did not like that. For some reason, he wanted her to know it was not him, that he actually was not _that_ horrible.

Stefan had already talked to him about his theory. He thought someone wanted to hurt him or their father so they drugged the food and planted journalists to discover it and put the blame on him. He had to give it to him; that actually made sense and he was furious for not figuring it out himself.

"I know it's probably not my business but I have to know, Damon. Why would you do something like that? Why hurt other people even though they seemed to do whatever you wanted?" She stopped walking and turned to look at him with those big Bambi eyes. "I just don't understand because you don't seem like a person who would do such a thing."

How could he not tell her anything she wanted to know when she looked at him like that? There was no judgment, just open curiosity and maybe a little worry. But why would she worry about him? She barely knew him? Their only interactions consisted of screaming matches and a one-night-stand. How could she possibly feel anything for him other than resentment?

"I didn't," he said quietly but she heard him because her face flashed from surprise to disbelieve then back to surprise. "What?"

"Yeah, you probably don't believe it but it's the truth. Stefan and I think that someone must have drugged the food and made sure that you would find out so you would write about it in your article."

"But who would want to do that? Do you have any enemies?"

"Sure, everyone has enemies but the trick is to find the one who hates me more than all the others."

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading. I hope you liked the chapter and in any case please tell me what you thought about it.

What did you think about Elena's charity work?

Did you like Elena's choice of a place to eat?

What did you think of Damon's thoughts about her?

What about that little moment in the Shawarma place?


	16. Pesky Paparazzi

AN: Hello my dear readers and thank you for those of you who took the time to alert and review the last chapter although there were not as many as usual. Is Friday a bad day? I can change it if you like.

About the chapter length. I know that some of the chapters are quite short but I only stop writing when I feel like, I have achieved the point of the chapter. That means that some of them are shorter than others but believe me they are how they are supposed to be. I will though take into consideration that you guys want longer chapters when I write from now on.

Here is the next chapter for you.

Enjoy,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter 16: Pesky Paparazzi**

**Elena**

After telling her about his hateful enemy, a black SUV rounded the corner and pulled up to the curb right in front of them. He opened the door for her then walked around the car to get in the other side.

They dropped her off at the apartment but did not leave before they had exchanged phone numbers.

Yesterday was a good day and his apparent talent for unearthing the philanthropist side in people was a huge asset to their foundation. It was amazing really that he went with her but she could not figure out what he wanted from her.

Before today, she thought he just wanted revenge because of the way she left him that night after the fundraising event and she expected him to try to seduce her or at least try to charm her. But apart from that little weird moment at the Shawarma bar, he was completely well-behaved.

"Elena! Is that you and Damon Salvatore at the mall?!"

She just entered the office when the screeching sound of Rebekah's voice made her flinch. She was holding an iPad and pointing at something on the screen that Elena had no way of seeing this far away.

"Good morning to you too, Rebekah," she sighed walking to her cubicle far away from Rebekah's.

"Did you even read the news this morning? Gosh, and you call yourself a journalist," Rebekah said exasperatedly as she followed her. _Wow, that girl could not take a hint._

She took her bag off, put it on the table and pulled her laptop out. She usually read the latest news while she ate her breakfast but today, she did not have time for breakfast. She thought she could catch up on the news at work.

"Look!" Rebekah lost her patience and shoved the iPad in her face forcing her to look at the screen.

There they were; she and Damon wearing bright green T-shirts, each holding a stack of leaflets. He was talking to the generous 5,000-dollar-check-Lady and Elena was staring at them. God, how embarrassing but that was not it because Rebekah scrolled down and showed her a couple of other pictures of her and Damon eating Shawarma wraps and then out on the sidewalk where he was putting his hoodie around her shoulders. The headline of the article read; "Damon Salvatore's new mystery woman". Great, she thought. Now people were going to dig after her. Why did she agree on taking him to him, again? Oh right, because she lost her damn mind.

"SOOO is that you and Damon Salvatore?" Rebekah said almost tripping with excitement.

"Yes, so?" She would play this cool and not share too much maybe the whole thing could blow over soon.

"Are you kidding me?! You know Damon Salvatore? And you took him to the mall when you could have been anywhere in New York? The guy has VIP access to any place worth seeing and you choose the mall?" Her eyes were open so wide that Elena was worried they would pop out any minute.

"What makes you think _I _took him to the mall?"

"Ha, I know you Gilbert and your freaky need to be a superhero. Isn't that the logo of that charity you work for?"

And she knew Rebekah too well. She was going to grill her for all the details before she considered leaving her in peace.

She had to leave.

To deal with Rebekah, you had to have patience and major deflection skills to be able to distract her from her mission. Both of which Elena did not have.

"You know what, Rebekah? I actually forgot I have an errand to run. Could you tell the boss that I'll send in my article by the end of the day?"

She did not wait for her reply as she gathered her things and bolted before she got another question, she did not have the energy to answer.

"But wait! Did you talk to him? Can you arrange an interview for me…?" Rebekah's voice trailed behind her as she left hurriedly.

* * *

**Damon**

The blissfully magnificent scent of freshly brewed coffee filled the kitchen as he worked on cooking a decent breakfast. He could not remember the last time he had actually been in a kitchen to cook something. He used to love doing it… before.

When the coffee finished brewing, he filled a mug to the brim and brought it to his nose taking in the heavenly scent before taking a sip. He put the mug down on the kitchen island next to his half full plate and his laptop.

He liked reading in the morning. He surfed the internet for a bit trying to find something interesting when a headline grabbed his attention.

_"__Damon Salvatore's new mystery woman"_

Dammit!

There were pictures of him and Elena from the day before. They were taken from a long distance but you could clearly recognize his face.

Fuck! He hated those assholes.

They never left him the fuck alone. What more did he have to do to get rid of them?

He smacked the laptop shut his temper flaring as he left the half-eaten meal and went to find his phone. He had to make sure she was okay.

And that she still wanted to know him.

He managed to take two steps before his blood froze in his veins and he stopped dead in his tracks as a flood of memories attacked him.

* * *

_Three years ago…_

With brown luscious locks cascading down her back, she sat there on a barstool laughing at something her friend was saying. Her laugh lighting up her face and the mesmerizing sound of it drifted all the way to the other side of the bar, where he was sitting.

The blond beauty next to him completely forgotten, he could not look at anything else but _her. _Then her friend hopped down from her barstool and headed for the restroom leaving him the perfect opening to approach her.

He seized his chance taking over the spot previously occupied by her friend. To his surprise, she let him.

"You wanted a change of view?" She asked twirling her finger around a curly lock of hair.

"On the contrary; the view is magnificent but I needed a closer look."

She smiled and he bought her a drink.

He flirted and she flirted right back. Time went by fast. He was wrapped up in her; her tantalizing laugh, her eyes that had this mischievous look in them and the swing of her curls when she moved like they strived to caress her.

By the end of the night, he only knew two things about her. Her name was Katherine – he could call her Kat – and she was an actress currently filming on location in New York. She was staying in a hotel and somehow she agreed to let him drive her home.

They were exiting the club through the back door to avoid the ever-present paparazzi but as they stepped outside, the flash of a camera went off blinding them for a second. He lost his temper and in two strides, he was in front of the guy. He grabbed his camera and threw it to the ground as hard as possible. It broke into pieces and the guy started threatening him. He told him to fuck off, took her hand and walked the few steps to his waiting car.

He drove her to the hotel then went home.

The next day their pictures were covering the tabloids with all kinds of assuming headlines full of words like "New Victim", "Affair" and "Secret lover".

* * *

He wanted to break something. He needed to.

He did not find anything close by other than the dry wall. He balled his hand into a fist and drove it into the wall. Searing pain shot through his arm going all the way up to his shoulder.

His knuckles were scraped and slightly bleeding and his ring finger was bent in an awkward position, probably broken, he thought. He was okay though.

His hand hurt like hell but _he_ was okay.

* * *

AN: Thank you so much for reading. Please tell me what you thought about the chapter. That is the only way for me to know if I am going in the right direction. Have a nice weekend.


	17. New Beginnings

AN: Thank you so much for all of last weeks alerts and reviews. Oh My God I'm so excited. 6 days left to the premiere guys. I really hope the writers won't screw this season up and do Delena justice. If not, well then we have fan fiction. No one's better at doing the characters justice than the fans anyway.

So here we go with another chapter of Intertwined.

Enjoy,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter 17: New Beginnings**

**Elena**

She was in a café a couple of blocks from work with her laptop on the table in front of her, her hands flying over the keyboard trying to keep up with the stream of words pouring out of her. She was writing an article about celebrities being constantly hounded by the paparazzi. It was a very fitting subject matter considering her current situation and the words came to her without any effort.

She could not stop thinking how creepy it was that the whole time she spent with Damon someone was watching them, taking pictures without them ever noticing. It was such an invasion of privacy. Why would anyone even be interested in celebrities doing mundane things? Because they wanted to see those idolized superhuman beings doing normal human things like themselves, she thought. But still someone like Damon who was not an actor or a musician, he did not sign his life away to the public by choice. He was born into it and forced to tolerate it.

The sound of her phone buzzing pulled her attention away from her thoughts. Her screen flashed a message… from Damon.

**D: Hey. Saw those pictures. Are you okay?**

That was actually sweet, she thought. He was definitely making progress on not being a dick. Not that she knew if he was trying to.

**E: Yeah I'm fine. Just annoyed I guess. You?**

She did not have to wait very long before her phone buzzed again and she found his reply on her screen.

**D: Peachy…but green is really not my color.**

That made her smile at her phone like an idiot so she looked up to check if someone was watching and sure enough a kid, around twelve years old, sitting next to his arguing parents at the table next to hers was staring at her like she was green. She rolled her eyes as her fingers flew over her touchscreen.

**E: Really? I thought it suited you.**

**D: Yeah right, you just liked the donations.**

**E: Of course I did, Sandra was shocked when I told her how much we got.**

**D: Maybe we can do it again sometime.**

**E: Admit it Salvatore, you got hooked to charity work.**

**D: Yeah… Yeah it was rewarding, life altering and whatnot but I was not hooked to the charity part.**

**E: Then what? **

**D: The company.**

Did he mean her? Why would he say something like that? She thought she made it clear that she was not interested that way. Maybe she was over-analyzing and he just meant it in a platonic way. Yeah, that must be it, she thought.

**E: Well, Wednesday night I'm driving around giving away food to the homeless. If you want, you can come see where the money goes.**

**D: Yeah why not. When and Where?**

She texted him the time and place before she tried to bring her focus back to her article. It was just really hard to wring out sentences that made sense when her thoughts kept churning like that. The strange feeling in her stomach like something was _fluttering_ in there every time she thought about Wednesday night was not helping either.

God, what happened to her? She used to be such a calm and collected person. Now she felt so jittery whenever _his_ name came up. Maybe she ought to stop inviting him to stuff so he did not get the wrong idea and she could avoid the headache but there was this strange feeling that kept telling her to do it. He tried to cover it up but there was something lonely to him; lonely and lost.

Maybe she was being presumptuous. Maybe she had it all wrong. And maybe he had some ulterior motives behind his strange interest in her yet she could not help but feel like she might be the only person in his life apart from his brother who did not talk to him just to get something from him.

Her phone started buzzing again but this time it was Caroline's name flashing on the screen. She contemplated ignoring her then she thought it could be important so she pressed answer bringing the phone to her ear.

"Hey, Caroline."

"Elena, are you doing something important today… like right now?"

"Uh… No… Not really. Why?"

"Great, you're going out shopping with me."

* * *

**Damon**

_Three years ago_

After that night and the next day's media bullshit, he thought she would never want to hear from him again never mind see him.

He was wrong.

Two days after, she called him. He did not give her his number but she had somehow acquired it anyway and after telling him she did not care about the media stuff, she suggested they go out.

He jumped at the chance and ruining it like the last one was not an option. He told her they could meet in her hotel.

They did. They had dinner with more wine than they cared to remember leaving them with lowered inhibitions and raging hormones. She invited him up to her suite for a cup of "coffee" and as most other stories went; a cup of coffee in her room meant something with less caffeine and more testosterone.

They slept together and it was as crazy and passionate as they both knew it would be.

That was when he decided that nobody; not the paparazzi and not even God himself could keep him away from her.

They started going out every night; drinking, dancing and ending up in her hotel room or in his apartment where they spent the night making love, never letting go of each other before dawn when she went on set and he went to the office.

Three months went by like a blur. They were the It-couple of the city. Everywhere they went, the attention was on them whether it was an extravagant event or a quiet dinner. Everyone had an opinion about their relationship. Some were rooting for them and others were dying of jealousy of the couple that had it all; looks, fame and fortune.

No body knew what happened behind all the glitz and glamour. They had no idea that each time one of those tabloids posted a slightly grainy picture showing one of them with someone else, their own personal world war three would break loose wreaking havoc in their lives.

They both had tempers and jealousy was their third companion. Voices were raised and cutting words were flung around but the passion was always stronger than everything else. It would concur all and he never had a doubt that _that_ would be enough.

* * *

**Elena**

"So? What do you think?"

Caroline twirled around wearing a short, red and flowy dress. The fabric was sheer and light and it looked like it was flirting with her skin.

"You look amazing, Care."

"Really?"

She turned from side to side examining herself in the mirror from all angles.

"Absolutely, you should get it."

"You're right, this is it." She squealed clapping her hands together and doing a little victory dance.

Elena could not help but laugh at her friend's overly cheerful mood. They were emergency-shopping for a date with Stefan tonight. He apparently surprised her because Caroline was nothing if not well prepared and usually she would have found her dress weeks before the date.

Back in her regular clothes Caroline stepped out of the changing room with the dress over her arm.

"Thank you for coming with me, Elena. I know it was kind of last minute," she said as they went to pay for the dress.

"You're welcome, Care."

Elena wanted to cringe from the awkward conversation. Things between Caroline and her were far from perfect at the moment but she knew that Caroline was trying to make things better. She could have easily gone shopping alone. She was an expert in fashion and she did not exactly need Elena for fashion advice but maybe moral support. Elena went on all the other shopping trips for all of Caroline's previous dates. It was practically a tradition and she could not say no to her now. It was _Caroline_, her best friend since she could remember. She could not stay mad at her for long even if she tried.

"I'm hungry. Are you hungry? Maybe we could grab some late lunch or something," Caroline said in a hopeful tone as they walked out of the shop.

How could she ever say no to her? "Sure. Why not."

They found their favorite place; a tiny little diner tucked away from the main stream of people.

They sat at their usual spot by the window; Caroline ordered her usual salad and Elena a sandwich.

"So, how are you doing? What are you writing about at the moment?" Caroline asked nipping at her food like she was not hungry at all.

"About the paparazzi and how celebrities have to tolerate their harassment."

One of her eyebrows shot up warning Elena of what she was going to say next.

"Since when do you sympathize with celebrities?" Of course! She knew it.

"Caroline!"

"Sorry, sorry. I'll stop judging I promise. Keep going please," she pleaded looking guilty.

"That's it I didn't get that far," Elena said taking a bite from her sandwich and wishing that she was better at saying no.

She tried to avoid looking at her friend as she quickly ate through half of her sandwich trying to endure the awkward silence.

"Elena, I'm so sorry about the party, for judging you, for going to Stefan behind your back. I am just so sorry and I don't know how to make it better because I feel horrible when I know you're mad at me. Just… just… Everything I did was because I lo… love you. I ne… never meant to hurt you."

Somewhere during her speech, she started crying and her words blurred together but it was enough. Elena got up from her seat and pulled her friend to her hugging her harder than ever. She did not know that she was crying too until a tear fell on Caroline's shoulder.

"It's okay, Care. I hate being mad at you too." She said wiping at her tears as she let go of her friend and sat back down.

"So you're not mad anymore? We're good?" She asked disbelievingly.

"We're good." She smiled but one hug was not enough as Caroline stood up and pulled her into another hug almost suffocating her in the best of ways.

"I promise I'm not gonna judge anymore. I'm going to be the most open-minded person on the planet." She said sitting back down and grabbing her fork with renewed appetite.

"Just please, Care don't do things for me without telling me first, okay?"

"Of course, trust me I learned my lesson. Stefan even told me it wasn't his brother who put the drugs in the food."

"Yeah I know. Damon said they think someone else did it to get back at him," she said and realized too late what she had said. When she looked at Caroline, she saw the same realization in her eyes.

Crap, crap, crap.

"What? Are you still seeing him?"

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading. Please be kind and write a word or two to tell me what you thought.


	18. As Long as You Love Me

AN: Thank you so much to those of you who reviewed and alerted. You are amazing. Finally the premiere is tomorrow and to celebrate I am posting earlier. This is just an easy chapter, nothing too serious but important nevertheless for the journey we are on along with this version of Damon and Elena.

Enjoy,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter 18: As Long as You Love Me**

**Elena**

"I am not going to judge. In fact I am not going to say a word but you have to tell me everything."

"There is nothing to say really, Care," apart from how she slept with him and now he wanted to go with her to do charity and she did not know if that was a good idea because she felt really weird when he was around.

"Elena honey, I have known you since you used to wear diapers and lying is really not your forte. Now tell me what is going on between you two so I can help you because there is clearly something bothering you."

Damn! Was she really that obvious? She kept thinking that telling Caroline was a very bad idea. She was dating his brother! But then again, she was her friend and she would feel much better if she could share her thoughts with her.

They might have had their differences and they just solved another disagreement but Elena knew how much Caroline loved her and she would never do anything to hurt her. On the contrary, she might end up helping her sort through all this mess.

"Okay so it started the day of the cocktail party…"

"…the one where you kissed?" Caroline interrupted.

Elena cleared her throat and went on; "Yeah, that one so after our fight I went to the bar to get a drink when he approached me…"

She told her about that night where she was drunk on alcohol and rebellious thoughts and how she ended up sleeping with him. It was mortifying to come clean about that part especially and Caroline had a funny expression on her face like she was forcing her lips to stay neutral and her mouth unmoving.

The week after, she had felt strong and empowered but now she could not help but think that she had used him. She used him to prove something to herself and her friends and she did not even care about what he would feel. She just assumed that he was trying to get into her pants by charming her first and she thought she would let him… on her terms. She did not even think that he might actually want to just talk to her.

She told her about the day he came to the yoga studio and asked for a _date_ and how he did not show up the day after then about how he showed up in the park after yoga dressed like a stalker and asked to come with her to the mall.

"…now our pictures are on the internet and Rebekah attacked me with her iPad so I ran away and that's when you called… Oh yeah and I might have invited him to the food delivery thing on Wednesday."

She finished her story and looked at Caroline to gauge her reaction. The girl never managed to hide what she thought but right now her face was jumping between expressions so fast that Elena could not keep up.

"You got Damon Salvatore to sweet-talk people into donating money and you are taking him with you to drive around the city and hand out food to the homeless? Are we still talking about the same person here?"

Caroline had completely abandoned her nearly untouched salad and had all of her focus on Elena which made her a little uncomfortable. Yes he was Damon Salvatore and all that but he was a person too. Why was it so difficult for people to imagine him doing normal human stuff?

"Yes, he seems really interested, Care and he's really good too. He got a 5.000 dollar donation yesterday from one lady. Imagine how much he could get in a week."

"That sounds great honey but why do I get the feeling that there is something else going on?"

Trust Caroline to dig into the heart of the problem. Well, she had no choice but to tell her. "I just… I feel weird whenever he's around or when he texts me and it's kind of out of my control and I hate feeling out of control." Caroline's eyebrows kept moving closer to her hairline as she talked.

"Oh my God, Elena you are developing feelings for him."

"No! That can't be it, Care." She sounded almost pleading like Caroline could somehow stop her from having feelings for him. "I don't have feelings for him. I can't."

* * *

It was Wednesday 6:20 pm and Elena was ready to start her route in ten minutes. She was just waiting for Damon to show up. She told him to meet her on the corner of a street two minutes away from her first stop. She was sitting in a white van that belonged to the foundation. The logo was on the side big heart and all so he would recognize the van easily.

She had seven stops to make and only two and a half hours to make them in before she had to return the van which meant she did not have a minute to spare. If he did not show up in 5 minutes she would just start her route and if he wanted he could join her later.

She had this weird feeling in her stomach again which was really annoying and a part of her hoped that he would not show up. Another part of her could not wait to see him again. God, she hated those contradicting feelings.

She looked at her phone to see the time; 6:26. She started the engine checking her mirrors and looking to the left. Before she turned the steering wheel, the passenger side door opened and Damon slid onto the seat.

"Hey, I'm not late am I?" He said looking at her and she felt something jump inside her stomach.

_God, his eyes were so blue._

* * *

**Damon**

She was staring at him like he surprised her or something. Then she seemed to remember what he had asked her.

"No, you're on time," she said, her eyes on the road as she pulled away from the curb.

"So how are we going to do this?" He had no idea how this whole thing worked. He would never have guessed that she would be there in a van and if it was not for the huge logo and the "Hand In Hand Foundation" painted on the side, he would still be waiting for her to show up.

"We have seven stops to make around the city and on each stop we are going to hand out bowls of stew, bread, fruits and milk to anyone who shows up."

"Do you do this a lot?"

"Well, yeah whenever I can."

They were holding still waiting for the traffic lights to turn green when she apparently noticed the splint on his finger and the bandages on the rest of his left hand.

"What happened to your hand?" She sounded concerned.

"Just and accident," he said in a clipped tone.

"Are you okay, though? Does it hurt?" She persisted.

"No it's not that big of a deal really," he said dismissing her concern.

She did not say more and he wondered if he had sounded too harsh but then the lights turned green and she took a right turn. The rest of the way, they just rode in silence.

When they reached their first stop, a line of people had already formed. They were all waiting for the van to get their meal. Elena pulled to the curb and got out of the car making her way to the back of the van. He followed her there and helped open the back door to get to the boxes of food.

They started handing out the food to people; each one bowl of stew, a carton of milk, a piece of fruit and some bread. She gave them the bowl of stew and the bread and he gave them the fruit and the milk using mostly his right hand. That way they were most efficient.

Elena was a natural. She handed out the food with a big smile as she made small talk. She knew some of the people waiting in line. She asked to their wellbeing, joked around and they all seemed to adore her.

"Hi Mama J. How are you doing?" An old lady in a wheelchair came forward. Her clothes were a mix of different scraps of fabric, her hair a cotton-like white mess on top of her head and her face a map over all her years on this earth. He wondered why she stayed on the streets. There had to be free of charge homes for the elderly or something.

"Hello 'Lena, honey. I'm fine thanks for askin'. How's you an' that chatty friend o' yours?" She said, her smile drawing a dozen more lines on her face.

"I'm great and Caroline says hi," Elena said smiling back.

"Tell 'er to hold onto that one. He's a keeper," Mama J said mysteriously and turned her attention to him. He handed her the milk and turned to get an apple when she grabbed his collar and pulled him down to her level. "You take care o' her. She's a' angel," she said in his ear before she let go and turned to leave without another word. He was not sure if anyone else had heard her. He kept staring after her contemplating her words until the next person in line cleared his throat to get his attention. He started handing out food again but those words never left his head.

Back in the car driving to the next stop, Mama J's words kept resonating in his head. Why would she say something like that to him? She did not know who he was and she probably assumed that he and Elena were together. But they were not and taking care of her was her boyfriend's job, not his. Not that he was capable of taking care of anyone, anyhow.

"You're thinking about Mama J aren't you?"

"Yeah, that was a little strange."

"Don't put too much into her words, Damon. She acts a bit mysterious at times but that's just who she is. One time she told me to beware of the color, blue. I mean it's not like she makes sense half of the time."

"How come you know so many of them?"

"Well I've done this for a long time now, actually since I started college and some of those people have been on the same streets for almost as long so I ended up running into the same people from time to time."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you care so much?"

"Because they are people. They somehow ended up without a place to live or a way to earn a living but they are still people and if life is hard on them then the least we can do is help make it a little bit easier."

They continued to the six other stops where people had already formed lines waiting for them to arrive. They handed out meals to hundreds of people. Between each stop their conversation flowed easily covering an impressive range of topics which he had never before been able to with anyone else. She had opinions about anything he tried to talk about from historic figures and politics to the latest pop-songs. She even added more to the facts he already knew.

They finally finished the last stop and she was driving back to the HIH headquarters to return the van. The boxes in the back were empty and hopefully a lot of stomachs were full instead. The radio was playing in the background as they discussed the point of boy-bands. To his annoyance, some Backstreet Boys song was playing and Elena refused to change the station.

_Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine_

_I'm leavin' my life in your hands…_

"The point of a boy-band is to get a bunch of good-looking guys together and make them sing something romantic so teen girls have something to scream over and spend their parents' money on," he said cringing at the cheesy lyrics.

_I don't care who you are_

_Where you're from_

_What you did_

_As long as you love me…_

"It's not just about money. It's a way for young girls to connect with each other about something they like. The difference is that now there are Twitter, YouTube and all kinds of other websites where girls from all around the world can talk to each other about the things they love…"

"…and spend their parents' money on merchandise and concerts to fill some producer's pockets. Besides those websites provide anonymity which leads to bullying because there are no consequences for the words they say to each other.

"Sure a lot of people in the music industry are all about the money but what industry is free of those people? And yes there are those who misuse the freedom of the Internet but we can't just dismiss something because of the cons when we know for a fact that there are just as many pros."

"Fine you win but that doesn't mean, I will ever willingly listen to one of those songs," he gave in. He was stubborn but she was way more so.

"I can live with that," she said laughing.

_I've tried to hide it so that no one knows_

_But I guess it shows_

_When you look into my eyes_

_What you did and where you're comin from_

_I don't care, as long as you love me, baby"_

_I don't care who you are _

_Where you're from _

_What you did_

_As long as you love me_

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading. What did you think about the chapter? Do you like/hate that song? Do you agree with Damon or Elena and what about Mama J?

Have an amazing première Thursday.


	19. Independence

AN: Thank you to all who reviewed to the last chapter. You always manage to put a smile on my face.

What did you guys think of the premiere? I can't wait to see more.

Now on with the story.

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter 19: Independence **

**Damon**

He handed a couple of bills to the driver telling him to keep the change before he stepped onto the sidewalk. After he got a cab for Elena, he decided to get one for himself too rather than wait for his driver to pick him up.

He was a couple of steps away from entering his building when a male voice called his name from behind. He turned around to find a shabby looking dark-haired man. His right eye was bruised and his nose slanted a bit off-center. It must have been broken more than once, he thought. He knew he had seen the guy before but he could not recall exactly where.

"Yes?" He said somewhat irritatedly waiting for the man to explain his reason for approaching him.

"You don't remember me, do you?" The man said then went on without waiting for a reply; "I'm Tyler Lockwood, the photographer who covered your party."

Of course! How could he forget the guy who sold out his girlfriend and her friend? Suddenly Damon did not feel as inclined to listen to him anymore.

"What do you want?" He asked anyway trying to get this over with.

"The more important question is; what kind of information I have that _you_ most certainly want."

"I'm guessing you still want something in return."

"Yes but it's a small price to pay considering the importance of what I know."

"How much?"

"5 million dollars."

"What the fuck kind of information would I want to pay 5 million dollars for?"

"Information about someone who wants to see you dead or buried alive and he has the means to make it happen, believe me."

XXX

Back in his living room, Damon was pacing the floor contemplating whether Lockwood really knew what he was talking about. He refused to tell him anything before he got the 5 million dollars which meant that he had no way of knowing if the information was actually worth that much. He had to make a gamble.

Then again Lockwood was a photographer and usually they saw things other people did not notice so he could very well have the kind of information, he was talking about. Maybe he saw the person who put the drugs in the food.

Also it was not like Damon could not spare 5 million dollars. The amount was no big deal really, he just did not like to be used and if Lockwood thought he could exploit him then he had another think coming.

His phone vibrated in his pocket interrupting his train of thought. He fished it out of his pocket and looked at the screen; a text from Elena.

**E: Home safe and sound. Thanks for tonight. You were great.**

For some reason unknown to him, he told her to text him when she got home safely, like he was her guardian or something. He did not expect her to actually do it but now that she did, he felt better about letting her take a cab alone at night. Not that she would have let him accompany her anyway. That girl was too independent for her own good.

He actually admired that about her, though. The kind of women, he was used to expected to get everything served on a silver platter but Elena worked not only for everything she wanted but also to help others get what they needed.

**D: Only because I had the best teacher there is. **

**E: Haha but I didn't need to teach you anything. You're a natural.**

**D: Does that mean you'll tell me, when you do it the next time?**

**E: Sure we could always need more help and a talent such as yours is invaluable ;)**

**D: Great. Goodnight, Elena.**

**E: Goodnight, Damon.**

He could not help but smile to himself. She was cheeky but cute as hell and the best part of his day. The days he had spent between Sunday and Wednesday were nothing short of hell. Memories kept attacking him like he had kept them behind a wall that was finally leaking them back into his conscious mind and he could not do anything to stop them. His usual remedies did not work and the only time he felt safe from his past was the time he spent with Elena.

So he intended to spend as much time with her as he possibly could.

* * *

**Elena**

She was finally in her room after a successful evening delivering food to the homeless. They finished most of the food and they managed to serve everyone who showed up. After returning the van to headquarters, Damon got her a taxi and paid for the fair beforehand. She could not understand his obsession with paying for everything. He was strangely old-fashioned that way and refused to let her pay for anything herself no matter how much she complained. She should have been annoyed about that, really. She was an independent, modern woman and she could pay for her own food and transport but a part somewhere inside of her thought it was sweet.

She grabbed her laptop and her phone from her purse then dumped it on the floor and stepped out of her boots before she crawled onto the bed making herself comfortable. She wrote a text to Damon telling him she was home safely like he had wanted her to. That was another thing that surprised her about him and she could not help but think it was sweet. She tried to bury those feelings deep inside, though because she never intended to act on them. They were mostly an inconvenience to her and she hoped that by ignoring them, they would eventually die off.

_God, it was so much easier to dislike him, when he was being an asshole._

Annoying feelings aside, she actually enjoyed the evening driving around the city with him. Between stops, they talked like they had known each other for years. They agreed on a lot of things and when they disagreed, they tried to persuade the other with sometimes legitimate and sometimes completely crazy arguments which made for very entertaining conversations. They did not get into anything too serious though, instead they kept the conversation light and easy.

While they were talking, she was able to relax around him and just enjoy the intellectual connection. When they stopped to give the food, he was just as good at making small talk and appearing open and positive to the people waiting in line as he was to the ladies in designer clothes at the mall. He was born to that kind of work and she hoped that he would actually get hooked so he could keep doing it because he was clearly an asset to the foundation.

She thought about their first stop and his brief encounter with Mama J. She did not hear what she told him but judging by his mood afterwards, it must have been something unusually strange. She had known Mama J since she first started at HIH. Sometimes she appeared normal, sweet and clearheaded but then her demeanor could change for just a moment and she would say something completely bonkers, then return to her normal sweet old lady self like nothing happened.

_Beware of blue._

What kind of warning was that? Did she just have to avoid anything blue? It was last Christmas. She was with Caroline giving away food, blankets and warm clothes. She was winding a scarf around Mama J's neck when she grabbed her hand and whispered that sentence in her ear. Then she just thanked her for the scarf, wished her a merry Christmas and started rolling her chair away.

Afterwards she kept thinking about her words trying to make sense of them with no luck. Finally she decided that Mama J probably was not completely healthy, mentally and pushed the whole episode out of her head. Now she was reminded of it again and her mind kept returning to it like she somehow had the knowledge in her head just outside the grasp of her conscious mind.

xxx

She was scrolling down a job-listings page reading all the available job adverts trying to find something suitable for her résumé. She had been at this for quite a while applying for available journalism positions and sending unsolicited applications to magazines and papers but nothing had yet panned out. She was not even contacted to do any job interviews.

She could not give up though. Journalism was her dream and she could never give up on it. She could not even entertain the idea without feeling a pang of guilt in her chest. Her mom used to tell her that giving up on her dreams was like giving up on life. She was the one who encouraged her to write and she used to buy her nice pens and pretty leather-bound diaries.

She remembered when her mom used to sit down with her own leather-bound books writing her novels. She used to say that writing with a nice pen on a nice piece of paper would inspire you. She only used a computer when it was absolutely necessary. Elena used to think her mom had a different brain than regular people for her to be able to make up so many stories.

She put her laptop aside and got off her bed walking to her little bookcase by the window. She let her hand run along the backs of her paperbacks landing on the last one. Gold letters on a white background read; Call of Sky by Miranda Gilbert. It was a fantasy book about a people who lived in the sky, kind of like angels and it was her favorite of her mom's novels. She had read it seven times already and she was reading it again, her bookmark – a picture of her and her mom – had a permanent home between the pages.

Whenever she missed her mom, she liked to read a few pages and she felt like she got closer to her somehow because those were her words on the pages and if she was never going to hear her speak them again, she could at least read them.

A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts and she noticed the wetness of her tears on her cheeks. She brushed the backs of her hands along her face to remove any trace of her previous state of mind before she called for whoever it was to come in.

Caroline opened the door slightly and stuck her head through the opening. "The movie is on, Elena. Are you coming?"

"Just a second, Care,"

"Okay, but don't keep Channing waiting too long."

"Fine," she said laughing as she went to her dresser and grabbed some shorts and a camisole.

They were watching Magic Mike in PJ's tonight. Bonnie's shift started late tomorrow and Caroline and Elena did not need to be at work early so they decided on a girls' night with shirtless Channing Tatum and a giant bowl of popcorn.

* * *

**Damon**

_Three years ago_

"I've let you carry on with that girl of yours for months now but enough is enough."

Giuseppe was gracing him with his presence in his office. They were rehashing the fight of the month… the last three months actually.

"People are starting to wonder. Mr. Clarks asked me the other day if there was a wedding coming up."

"Maybe there is."

Giuseppe turned his head shooting him his most disgusted look.

"This is no laughing matter, Damon. Our name is on the line and I need you to end it, now."

Damon was amazed by his audacity. He always gave himself the right to order him around like he was one of his servants.

"I am dead serious. I love her."

His father's stare intensified and the veins in his temple were visible like they were going to pop out any minute.

"You listen to me, Damon. No son of mine is going to marry an actress. She's a gold-digger and a whore."

Damon felt his words like a punch to his guts. His hands clenched into fists and he shook with the effort of holding himself back. He wanted to punch him so bad. "Mom was an actress. She was not a gold-digger or a whore." His voice was like ice and he hoped that it would cut through him the way he had just gutted him.

"That's it! If you marry that girl, you are not getting a single dollar from my money."

"You know what? I don't need your damn money. Actually, I quit." Just like that he brought his life down around him like a house of cards and he felt good. He felt like he could breathe for the first time since his father stepped into his office…

Ha! He did not have an office anymore. In fact, he did not have to stay there for even one more second. He was free to leave.

"What did you just say?" His father looked like he saw a ghost and maybe he did. Maybe he saw his soul reenter his body, when he uttered the key words to his freedom. He was never going to be his father's marionette anymore.

The first thing he did was undoing his tie and throwing it on the desk before he walked with confident steps to the door.

"I said; I quit." He did not wait for a reply as he opened the door and left this godforsaken place, hoping to never see it again.

* * *

AN: Well this time you got a whole bunch of information. Thanks for reading. Now what did you think about the chapter?

Do you think Tyler really knows something or is he just money-hungry?

What do you think about Damon's habit to pay for everything? Is it sweet or old-fashioned?

Please don't hesitate to tell me your thoughts. They make such good inspiration.


	20. Bee Stinger

AN: Hello my dear readers. Thank you for those who took the time to review. You're amazing.

I just want to remind you that characters sometimes think stuff that is not necessarily the _Truth_ but rather their personal perspective or view on it. This chapter is only in Damon's POV but I hope you like it anyway.

Enjoy,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter 20: Bee Stinger**

**Damon**

"Lexi!" He said from the doorway to her office.

At the sound of his voice, she looked up from her computer screen. When her eyes landed on him, her face hardened and her lips pressed together forming a straight thin line. He took that as an invitation and stalked inside the office and around her desk to stand directly in front of her towering over her. He leaned down, his face just inches away from hers and stared her down. She stared right back defiantly even though her left eye was a little jumpy like it wanted to look away but she forced it to stay put.

He whispered conspiratorially; "Tell me honestly…" His voice was husky and seductive. "…Is my brother treating you right?"

"Sure as hell better than you ever did," she said between gritted teeth. Yeah, he kind of slept with her one night and went right back to ignoring her the next day. Not a smart move with his personal assistant alas he was in a bad mood that day and she was close by and pining for him already…easy.

"Ouch that hurt." He took his hand to his chest feigning chest pain for a second then dropped the act. "Well thank the heavens that neither of us has to endure that ever again," he said flaring his eyes. He trailed his hand along her desk as he walked back around to the front.

"Asshole!" She muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

He chuckled and made his way to the door intending to barge in without a warning like he always did. He loved to get a rise out of Stefan.

"Damon, no! Don't go in there." She hurried over to stop him putting herself between him and the door guarding it with her body. He admired her dedication although he did not recall her acting as protective of _his_ privacy back in the day.

"And why should I not."

"He… he has a meeting." She mumbled out like she was making the words up as she went.

"Really? With whom?" Her eyes were jumping around trying to avoid his gaze and she reminded him of when he used to make her cover for him with his father. She was not very good at it back then and she was not doing very well covering for his brother now.

"A reporter," she finally decided and her eyes settled on his, daring him to ask more.

"You should have said so from the beginning." He turned away from the door and made for one of the chairs by her desk. "I'm just going to wait here for him to finish." He heard her letting out a breath relaxing her stance and moving away from the door.

He had his chance right there and he took it pushing the door open and going in the sound of her loud protests following him inside.

The visual that met him in there was the furthest thing from what he had expected. The back of a girl perched on his brother's desk faced him. Her shoulder-long blond curls were hiding the fact that she was engaging in a tongue-wrestling match with his brother who had kicked his chair away and was standing between her legs.

The commotion resulted by his entering interrupted their session and his brother pulled himself away from her long enough to cast an irritated look to the door seeing him standing there.

"Well…well. Look who's been fucking the media," Damon said in a loud voice that probably carried through the open door to the hall and anyone who might be passing through. A fact recognized by his brother who to his delight had gotten even more annoyed.

"I'm sorry, Stefan. I tried to stop him," Lexi said from behind him.

Stefan nodded his head then looked at him. "What are you doing here, Damon?" He said. The blond was off the desk, rearranging her clothes while still facing away from him.

"I thought I would pay a visit to my saintly little brother but I did not know that I would find him in the middle of finally getting rid of his golden boy image. Congratulations brother."

The girl had finally finished putting herself together. She reached up and placed a kiss on Stefan's mouth before she grabbed her purse from the desk. "See you later, Stefan," she said as she turned around making her way to the door. He could finally see her face. What do you know; it was Blondie with the judging stare A.K.A. Elena's friend.

"You?!" He heard himself ask stupidly.

If looks could kill he would have been dead and buried already because the glare she shot him was deadlier than a bullet. She walked past him without a single word like he was not even worth the time.

Once she was gone and the door to Stefan's office was safely closed keeping their conversation between just the two of them, Damon could finally get his answers.

"Why the hell were you just sucking _her _face?" He asked.

"Will you stop being disgusting? I was not _sucking_." Stefan said his annoyance coloring his words.

"It does not matter what you want to call it, Stefan. Why _her_?" Stefan was not the only one annoyed anymore.

"…because I love her."

* * *

They were sitting across from each other in a small office in the HIH foundation headquarters waiting for the occupant of said office to arrive.

The room lacked the space needed for the kind of business it was intended for but it was bright and maybe even cozy. Piles of folders and papers covered the small desk, the walls were covered in pictures of New York and the people who lived on its streets and apart from the desk chair and the two chairs they were sitting on, there was a small two-person sofa pushed against the wall. It was old and worn from the years with an ugly and thankfully faded orange and green pattern. It looked like it had been sitting there since the 70's.

They had been here for at least 20 minutes but Elena knew the guy and she assured him that he was on his way. It was her idea coming here in the first place. Damon was going to register himself officially as a volunteer. He was not very keen on the idea actually and he had voiced his reluctance but Elena thought it was the best thing to do.

"Of course you should volunteer, Damon. You already said that it was rewarding and life-altering so why not make the final commitment?" She had said and well… look at her using his own words against him.

Yes, he did believe it was rewarding. Doing something good for no other reason than just wanting to, was a great feeling even though he never before thought of himself as a do-gooder but the reason why he had kept doing it had more to do with Elena than his inner philanthropist. He wanted to do it with her and volunteering meant that he had to do it by himself… right?

"In the beginning you're going to go out with me to kinda get the handle on things before you start getting your own work like your own route with the food-van and stuff like that," she said and he could see the excitement on her face.

Well at least he will be with her in the beginning. That was good news but he had a couple of more issues the first one regarding his unfortunate last name and the fact that if word got out about this, they would not leave him in peace and it would generate enough wind to feed the rumor-mills. His second issue was the word _commitment_. Elena was trying to convince him but that word froze his blood and made him feel even more disinclined to put his name on that piece of paper.

If he did sign his name on the volunteer list, people would start depending on him. He was not expected to do much and what they wanted him to do was not the actual problem… No… It was the fact that they _depended_ on him and _expected_ things from him. He had not done or even tried to do anything that was expected from him in a long time… since he quit his job and his father's control, actually and he liked it that way. He did not want to change that freedom anytime soon… or ever.

But this was _Elena_ and she was looking at him with her dangerously innocent brown eyes, excitement pouring out of her in waves and he could not turn her down. He could not be the one to shut down her excitement. He agreed to do it and here they were.

Finally the guy was there… at least he thought it was him. Sandy hair, casual scruff and a plaid shirt to sum up his appearance which was not very impressive to say the least but the guy had kind eyes and Elena appeared to like him. She gave him a hug as soon as he arrived.

Damon felt a sharp tinge of… something. This guy was allowed to touch her and he was not but he could tell that they were nothing more than friends.

"Alaric Saltzman, my friend and a fulltime charity administrative worker on HIH," Elena presented him and he shook his hand as she went on; "Damon Salvatore… my friend."

Huh… her friend. He had actually achieved that status and why did that make him so light like gravity got turned off for a second?

"It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Salvatore. Please take a seat." He closed the door and got around the desk sliding in his chair. He moved a pile of paper from one spot on his desk to another. "Elena told me a lot about your exceptional fundraising skills. I'm glad that you decided to volunteer," he went on.

Elena's cheeks were an adorable pink color as she sent him a smile that was meant to be reassuring but did a horrible job at that. Instead it squeezed something inside him. He was her friend. Nothing more, nothing less but it shocked him nevertheless.

Saltzman was apparently saying something to him while he was staring at Elena instead of paying attention. He shook himself mentally and forced his attention back on him.

He was telling him the same things, Elena had already said like he would start working with her then slowly get his own assignments. He also told him that he could choose the things he wanted to do and they would work out the time to fit into his schedule. Not that he had anything else to do but it was nice to know they were flexible. It kind of took away from the commitment part although it persisted as a heavy thought at the back of his mind ringing his alarm bells but he chose to ignore them.

When the signing part of their meeting approached the bells were going crazy and he was contemplating running out of that crowded office and never coming back. Then he looked at Elena and she gave him that smile again and he found himself taking the pen and signing his name without another thought.

He did not feel any different from before the signing so why was he such a chicken about it?

After that, they talked for a while about the foundation and how it started. It was apparently new just a couple of years old and Saltzman was one of the founding members who had all thrown some money together and started off in a garage and slowly they built it up to where it was today.

Damon wondered if they had sponsors who could keep things running and apparently they did but not the heavyweight kind.

"We have some smaller ones but we lost our major sponsor back around Christmas last year. Because of the economy problems, sponsors are scarce and charities are everywhere so we don't really hold much hope of finding anyone soon," Saltzman said when he asked him.

"Maybe we should try to get some attention for the HIH," Elena pitched in.

"The problem is that if you want people who have that kind of funds to actually pay attention to you, you have to throw a party and we definitely don't have the money for that and if we did; we would have much better ways of using it."

"What about Salvatore and Co.?" He said before thinking it through.

"What about it?" Saltzman said with a skeptical look.

"Can you get your company to sponsor the HIH?" Elena said hopefully.

They both stared at him waiting for an explanation. Well, why not? He could talk to Stefan and pitch the idea. He knew the company already sponsored some charities and one more would not make that much of a difference.

"I can call my brother and see if it's possible," he finally said.

Elena and Saltzman liked the idea so he excused himself and went out to call Stefan.

The HIH headquarters consisted of a narrow hallway with three doors on each side. One of the doors led to Saltzman's office and most of the others were closed but at the end of the hallway a door was open. He went to look inside and found a small room. It looked like a meeting slash lounge room with an oval table in the middle surrounded by wooden chairs and in the corner there was a coffee machine on a small sink. He went inside pulled out a chair and sat on it dialing Stefan's number.

He answered after the second ring; "Yes!"

"I need a favor."

"What kind of favor?" He said suspiciously.

"Salvatore and Co. has to sponsor the HIH foundation."

"What? A foundation? Like, charity?" His voice was getting more and more incredulous with every word.

"Yes charity, it's for the homeless. Now can you make it happen?"

"Why do you want me to sponsor a foundation? Since when did you start caring about the homeless?" He was back to being suspicious. "Damon is this about a girl?"

Of course he would not believe him. Stefan always expected the worst of him but to his defense, Damon never showed him anything but his worst since they hit puberty. It was not like he was doing this out of the kindness of his heart either. There was no kindness in him, no heart. He was doing it to make a good impression on Elena, to get her to fix his problem.

"Yes it's about a girl, Stefan now will you do it?"

"I thought you did not believe in love and relationships?"

Yes, he did not exactly react well to his brother's current insanity, when he told him that he loved Caroline Forbes. He gave him a piece of his mind about that figment of imagination that someone started out of boredom. Love did not exist. No he took that back, actually it could exist to some degree between a mother and a child or between siblings but never between strangers, between a man and a woman. That was nothing but lust and a delusional conviction of something more that always ended up burning those who believed in it. He had experienced that first hand and seeing his brother falling in the same trap elicited his anger.

"I don't."

"So why are you trying to impress her?"

"Didn't you ever learn anything from me, brother? You need to play your cards right to get what you want from a woman. You have to invest some quarters to hit the jackpot."

"Fine I'll see what I can do?" Stefan sighed sounding unconvinced.

_His funeral_, Damon thought shrugging to himself as he ended the call. He put his phone back in his pocket and got up from the chair to go tell Elena and Saltzman about the news but he never made it out of the room. Elena was blocking his way standing in the doorway with crossed arms and an unreadable expression.

"You can save your quarters, you already had the jackpot," she said. Her voice was cold and hard and the usual warmth in her eyes was gone.

What? Confused as hell he racked his brain trying to decipher her words and the reason for her sudden anger and suddenly it hit him.

Shit!

* * *

AN: Thank you so much for reading. Please, please be kind and leave a word to tell me what you thought. I really need someone to kick my muse's ass 'cause it wont cooperate at the moment.


	21. Holding On and Letting Go

AN: Hey you guys. Thank you so much for last week's reviews and especially to the guest reviewers who I can't respond to personally. I'm glad you liked the chapter. This one picks up right where we left off.

Enjoy,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter 21: Holding On and Letting Go**

**Elena**

Ric wanted to know when Salvatore and Co. could start sponsoring if they were going to. She told him she would go ask Damon. When she got out of Ric's office, she heard his voice coming from the meeting room so she made her way for it.

"...You need to play your cards right to get what you want from a woman. You have to invest some quarters to hit the jackpot."

His voice was full of innuendos. She was just outside the room when she heard it. She stopped dead in her tracks and the words swam around in her head slowly starting to make sense. _You have to invest some quarters to hit the jackpot_. Really? Quarters and the jackpot? He compared her to a game? Well not a game as much as a _whore_.

Furious was a word too inadequate to explain the state she was in. But of course she could not blame him. No, she blamed herself for not trusting her own better judgment. She knew who he was and what he did and her logical side along with both of her friends warned her against him but she did not listen.

God, she felt stupid.

He finished the call rising up and facing her. Nothing, his face was still the same. He was not even embarrassed that he had gotten caught. Well, maybe he needed her to show him just how much she had heard.

"You can save your quarters, you already had the jackpot," she said and finally she got the reaction she wanted.

His expression went from confusion to realization then settled on something resembling remorse but she refused to accept his remorse. She had already played emotional punching bag to his repeated blunders enough times. She did not want to anymore.

He had been standing silently for a long time. Maybe he was not even going to try to explain. She did not wait for him to start defending himself.

She spun around leaving the room and the building in her haste to get away from him.

xxx

She was on the sidewalk in front of the building trying to get a cab when she heard him calling her name. She did not turn around as she stepped onto the road with one foot lifting her hand in a sign to any available taxi.

"Elena, please!" He was closer now and there was still no cab. Dammit! She had to leave now.

She had no choice but to walk to the subway station so she crossed the road getting yelled at by several drivers as she made her way through the slowly moving traffic. More yells and some car horns went off after her. When she turned her head to see who the other jaywalker was, she saw him jumping around the front of a moving cab and onto the sidewalk behind her. God, he was too close, she had to hurry up.

She started jogging lightly maneuvering her way against the stream of moving people turning her head from time to time to check how far he was.

She had no other thought in her head apart from the thought of getting away from him. No reasons and no explanations. She just had to get away.

Finally the hordes of people cleared away as she reached the stairs of the station but then he finally caught up with her. He grabbed her wrist forcing her to stop and face him.

"Elena, please. Just listen."

Who the hell did he think he was? He had no damn right to touch her. She wrenched her arm out of his grasp but stayed where she was, her eyes daring him to say something worth her while.

"I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." There it was again, the remorse.

She snorted. "Really? Then how did you mean it?" Her tone was cold.

His Adam's apple bobbed like it was hard for him to swallow her words and he opened his mouth and closed it a couple of times trying to speak but deciding against it.

"I don't know how to do this," he finally said.

"Clearly."

"No, I mean I don't know how to be your _friend_, Elena."

Huh? Where did that come from?

"I have never had a friend before so I don't know how it works. The only thing I know is that I like you, I like spending time with you and I like _myself_ when I am with you," he said with emphasis on the word; 'myself'.

She was shocked and he was looking at her trying to decipher her reaction but she could not utter a word so he went on.

"The reason I said that up there was that I have no idea what I'm doing and I have no way of explaining it to anyone else. Telling him what he expected to hear was just the easy way… But it's not an excuse and I'm… sorry. You're not just a game to me, Elena."

He finished talking and waited for her to say something but she had a hard time forming her thoughts into words. Everything was too jumbled up and upside down.

"Please say something," he said uneasily.

"Why does he expect you to say that I'm a game?"

"Because that's what I do, Elena or what I used to do anyway but it's not you. He does not know about you."

"Why did you stop?"

"Stop?"

"Using women," She explained.

"I don't… _like_ it anymore," he said and something flickered in his eyes. She chose to ignore it and focused on his apology instead. She believed him when he said he did not know how to have a friend. That only proved her theory about his loneliness.

God, he had this way with words… How could she stay mad at him when he said things like that to her? He liked being with her and he liked himself when he was with her? Damn, he was good.

"Okay."

"Okay?" She saw something akin to hope flaring in his eyes.

"Yes." She turned around and started descending the stairs.

"Where are you going?" He sounded a bit confused.

"To take the subway… you coming?"

She smiled to herself as she heard his steps behind her when he started walking down the stairs with her.

* * *

**Damon**

He was this close to losing her. Because of his own stupidity, he almost drove her away. You know that saying; _you don't know what you have until you lose it_? Well, for a moment today he thought he had lost her forever. That was when he found out how much he could not let that happen.

The moment he realized what he had said his world started to crumble on itself. Everything he was; his past, his present and whatever future he had left started to shake and only one thought kept everything from falling into ruins. He decided to do everything he could to get her back and keep her there.

He did get her back. He managed to somehow say the right thing and he _apologized_ which may have been the first time in his life. She accepted his apology and she was still there. He could still see her, he could talk to her and she still considered him a friend. The world was right again…well not right because this world they lived in was anything but right but it was better. His world was better with her in it.

She made him take the subway again and this time it was in the middle of the day where hordes of people surrounded them there in the tunnels of the stations. Because of the humidity and the heat of the day, big fans were installed in the tunnels but the only thing they did was twirl the same warm air around and blow the mixed smells of hundreds of human bodies along the walls of the tunnels. A couple of months ago it would have been his own personal version of hell but now he was not even bothered by the horrid smell.

No…he was busy panicking silently. This time he managed to apologize and get her back but he would inevitably do something that would hurt her again. What if he could not get her back then? The thought of him relying on her presence in his life so much scared him to no end.

He needed her in his life and he selfishly wanted her to stay even though leaving might have been the best thing for her. Maybe he should have let her leave for her own good. He was not good for her. He was not good for anybody, not even himself.

But that was who he was; selfish.

xxx

Over the next weeks Damon spent most of his time either with Elena learning the fine art of charity work and all the ins and outs or he did his own work for the HIH.

After a couple of times with Elena on the food-van, he got his own route on Tuesdays from 6.30 to 9.00 but most times, Elena joined him anyway and they spent the evening driving around the city giving people food and chatting with them a bit before they were off to the next stop. He actually recognized some of their faces from previous times and he remembered things about them like this guy liked old-fashioned jokes – he always had a couple ready for whenever he saw him – and that guy liked to talk about his dog who shared his food and his blankets with him as they wandered the streets together.

Between stops they would talk or bicker depending on their mood. He now knew her favorite food – lasagna, her favorite color – blue and her favorite kind of music – anything a decade or more old. He wanted to know more. He wanted to learn everything about her from the moment she was born to the day he met her and they were well on their way to cover that stretch of time. He found out she was in fact a tiny ballerina in elementary and middle school and a cheerleader in high school with Blondie as the captain. Yes, they were apparently in school together all their lives and he admired her patience for enduring Miss Judgy all this time but he did not voice those thoughts of course. He had learned early on that she was very protective of her friend and to his dismay; she also supported her relationship with his brother.

They were in between stops on a Tuesday and he was behind the wheel when he asked her. "Did you know that my brother and your judgy friend are together?"

"Please don't call her that and yes I know about her and Stefan."

"…and you don't mind?"

"She likes him. Why should I mind?"

"He told me he loves her," he said focusing his attention on the road. What? He was a safe driver.

"Do _you_ mind?"

"It's not my concern but I do think it's a bad Idea."

"Why?"

"I don't want him to get hurt." Obviously!

"Why do you just assume he's going to get hurt? You said he loves her, well what if she loves him too and they decide to spend their lives together, make each other happy every day?"

He laughed. "You're such a romantic."

"Well, what do _you_ think?"

Well, she asked him. He considered it a public service to tell everyone the truth.

"There is no such thing as love. It's a delusion and anyone who chooses to believe in it ends up getting hurt but it's ultimately his decision."

She did not comment on that and stayed silent until they arrived at their next stop.

They did some more fundraising as well, in different malls or just somewhere were a lot of people passed by and he found out that he was good at it. Like _really _good at it. Talking to people came to him easily and asking them to donate money was just a slightly bit harder. Elena thought it was a talent and he liked how happy she was every time he managed to get an exceptionally good donation.

She was not quiet about it either. She told everyone from the foundation and every time they were at the headquarters for some reason or another, he always found her in the meet-lounge room with a cup of coffee and a faithful audience listening to the latest story about an especially great donation. Damon was the main character of them all.

Elena was not the only person from the foundation that he talked to. He actually talked to quite a few of them but most remarkably, he struck up a friendship with Alaric Saltzman now simply, Ric. They bonded over their shared appreciation for fine liquor.

Damon did not drink like he used to. No more binges but usually after a successful evening delivering food or fundraising they would meet up at the office and walk to a bar right at the corner of the street. They had outstandingly good brands and over a glass or two of whisky, Alaric would tell him about the one that got away, the girl he was still hopelessly in love with slash pining for. Sometimes their conversation drifted to Elena of whom Ric was _very _protective or they could just spend the evening drinking in companionable silence. It was nice to be with someone other than Stefan who did not want something in return.

One of those nights and after a couple of emptied glasses, Damon found himself telling Ric about the parties, he used to throw, how he met Elena at the last one and how that on night someone put drugs in the food that was served to his guests. He also told him about Lockwood and the information he said he had in exchange for five million dollars.

As he was talking, an idea popped into his head for a way to get Lockwood to talk while they still had the upper hand. He talked to Stefan about it and he agreed that it was the way to go. He also lent him the services of Aksel, his security guy.

Aksel found out that Lockwood was indebted again to the same people as the last time but now he owed two million dollars instead of 50 thousand. They were after him for the money and they had already tried beating it out of him more than once. In other words he was desperate so he came to him but he was not desperate enough to just want the two million. No, he had gotten greedy and wanted three million more for himself.

Damon decided to buy his debt. That way he only paid two million dollars and he got to have Lockwood by the throat. He made Aksel contact him to arrange a meeting and they did in fact meet. This time he went with Aksel alone leaving Stefan out of it.

He was waiting in the car parked at the same abandoned lot but this time Lockwood was on time. Aksel shoved him inside the car and Damon started explaining the new rules.

"…I can forget about the two million dollars and you can get another chance at a peaceful existence or I can make you pay me back. It's your choice." He finished talking and waited for him to make a decision. It was not that hard really. He knew he had him but Lockwood had to realize it for himself and sure enough a moment later he nodded reluctantly.

"Good. Now you can tell me what you know and as soon as you leave this car you can consider yourself a free man."

He swallowed and started talking. "I don't know him personally. I knew a guy who worked for him. He worked at the catering company you hired for your parties but his real job was to spy on you. He used to tell me about the kind of money this guy paid him for information about your doings and goings. Back then I needed some money so I asked him to try and hook me up with this guy.

Couple of weeks later he came back to me about a job. He would pay me a 100 thousand dollars to convince a reporter to sneak into the party and cover the event. But that was just the easy part because he also wanted the reporter to discover the drugs in the food and write about it.

I did not see who put the drugs in the food but I guess it was him. Anyway, I managed to convince Caroline and Elena to come with me. By the end of the night I had no idea if Elena discovered the drugs but I had to make sure she did. I made Caroline eat some of the food and that way when Elena found out, I was sure she was going to write about it in her article because how could she not right? Caroline was her friend who even had a bad reaction to the drugs." He laughed bitterly before going on.

"Well you know how that went. For some reason Elena didn't write about the drugs which meant I didn't get my money so I could not pay back my debt… until you found me."

"You still haven't told me anything I did not know or had not guessed already. Who was he, the guy who hired you?" Damon said annoyance evident in his tone.

"I told you I don't know him. The only thing I know is the name of the guy who spied on you; Chris Tanner."

"Where does he live?"

"Not here. He left for Europe as soon as you stopped throwing those parties. He already had enough money."

Now he was angry. He reached out and grabbed him by the collar. "What the fuck? You told me you had information. This is nothing. It's bullshit."

"I…I told you everything I had," Lockwood said, his voice shaking.

Damon let go of him and leaned back in his seat taking a breath to calm himself. "Well there must be more. Try to remember. Did you ever see him with Tanner, maybe giving him instructions? Maybe you heard his name or part of it."

Lockwood was shaking his head to everything he said but then he stopped. He remembered something.

"I remember one more name. One night we were playing cards and he had his phone on the table right next to me. In the middle of a game, he got a text and I managed to get just one glimpse at it. After that he left, said he had an important meeting with his boss. I was the only one who knew which boss he was talking about."

"Well, what was the name?" Damon prompted impatiently.

"Katherine… Katherine Pierce."

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading.

To those who requested longer chapters a while back, here you go. My longest chapter. It had a lot of inoformation and a little fastforward. I hope you enjoyed it.

If you could be so kind and leave a word to tell me what you thought, you would really make my day.


	22. Katherine Pierce

AN: Thank you sooooo so much for your reviews to the last chapter guys. Really it feels amazing to know that those words I string together are being read and appreciated. I just love how interested and engaged in the story you are.

So here you have another chapter my lovely readers.

Sincerely,

Mydarkside975

* * *

**Chapter 22: Katherine Pierce**

**Damon**

_Three years ago_

She was finished filming and he had quit the company. The paparazzi were as relentless as ever in their quest to get the next good picture and he wanted her for himself away from everyone else. He convinced her to leave the city with him.

Quitting the company and getting cut off by his father did not have the kind of impact Giuseppe wanted because he still had plenty of money left from his mother's inheritance. He also had his mother's mansion in the Hamptons and that was where they chose to go.

They left for the mansion and stayed there right under everyone's noses but they never went outside. They turned it into a love nest and spent their days and nights in each other's arms. A month and a half went by like a dream. The only person who knew where they were was Stefan and they paid people to keep the house and bring them everything they needed but they never stepped outside the grounds of the mansion themselves.

Life was simple there on a lounge chair by the pool with her draped along his side with nothing on but her sunglasses, her walnut curls spread across his chest and his neat bourbon in his hand.

After the fight with Giuseppe, he had gotten her a ring and every day he contemplated giving it to her but every night he got distracted by her. She always demanded his attention and he gave it to her gladly.

Then the fights started and everything changed. They yelled at each other about everything and nothing most of it too stupid to even remember. He guessed she missed her work and felt stuck in that house with him all the time never getting further away than the backyard. She turned it against him and they started hurting each other, spewing poisoned words at each other. They never went to bed mad though. They always ended up regretting their words and went crawling back into each other's arms.

But it got worse; they hurt each other not just with words but also physically…

She started provoking him on purpose to get a reaction out of him. The first couple of times he managed to walk away.

One day she accused him of cheating on her, which was ridiculous because he never left the house but she would not back down. One word led to another… he said something… she slapped him… then she tried to do it again but he caught her hand midair so she kicked him instead and when he let go of her, she started slamming her fists everywhere she could reach. He pushed her away from him but it was harder than he had intended. She fell and hit her head on the coffee table. He took her to the hospital and miraculously managed to keep it out of the news. She had a concussion…

… She was pregnant.

Eight weeks.

She knew and she did not tell him. All this time she had tried to make him hurt her and she succeeded; he did hurt her. She was carrying his child. She wanted him to kill him and he almost did.

Regret was horrible. It ate you alive if you let it and he was not about to. He could not let himself disappear and leave his unborn child without a father even a lousy excuse for one, like him.

He did everything he could to atone for his mistake. When he got her back home, he treated her like a queen. He did everything she asked. He even tried to anticipate what she would want and did it _before_ she asked.

She took full advantage of it. She demanded and ordered… and he obeyed like nothing more than a servant.

She started getting creative. She was in her second trimester, hormones running wild, horny as hell and she had her own personal slave right at her disposal. She used his regret and his guilt to force him to do things for her amusement… things that he would otherwise never do.

You know about the concept of sex being a mutual thing, you give and you take? Yeah, that did not exist in their relationship anymore.

She would do things like tie him down, blindfold him and start playing with him to get herself off. She would straddle him and start cutting small parallel lines into his skin. She used to do it on the side of his torso or on the side of his waist. She said she liked his body too much to ruin it but she still wanted to mark him so she chose places that were not as visible all the time.

He let her do it.

His pain, the blood and control, it all aroused her and every time she sliced a new line in his skin, he would hold back any show of emotions. Hurt, pain, anger or shame… nothing. That was his control.

He always had a healthy stamina but sometimes she would keep him hard for hours. She would fuck him to pleasure herself and deny him release. It fucking hurt.

When she finally tired of her games and let him be for a while, he would have to take care of himself.

It was degrading and it was torture but he took it. He still loved her and he tried to find excuses for her. The hormones and her body changing out of her control but she loved him. He was sure of it and she would never hurt him on purpose.

* * *

_Present time._

Right hook, left hook, upper cut…

Right hook, right hook, left hook…

Left hook, upper cut…

The sounds of his hands slamming into the leather punching bag repeatedly were sweet in his ears. They drowned everything else, mostly his thoughts. But his thoughts got louder and harder to ignore. He kept trying though.

Adding the punching bag to his workout room was the best idea he had ever had. Two weeks ago he finally got rid of the splint on his finger and he could use his hand again… Thank fuck. He did not want to repeat the incident but the trigger for that moment of insanity was still alive and well. The memories were leaking slowly out of the hold of his resilience and every time another one drizzled into his head, he needed to punch something hence the new workout routine.

Now was no different. He was just in the shower getting ready to leave when the images started flooding his mind and he just could not leave. The water started looking pink as it washed down the drain and he took his hand to the scars on his side but they were not bleeding. Healed long ago, they now only acted as a reminder of how fucked up it was to give yourself completely to someone else, to place your whole being in their hands.

He slammed the bag one last time sending it swinging precariously from the ceiling but then he caught it midair.

"Damon!"

Elena! He was supposed to meet her but he had completely forgotten.

* * *

**Elena**

The numbers above the elevator door changed rapidly on the way up to the penthouse, Damon's place. They were supposed to meet up and head to NYU to take part in a convention where they would talk about the HIH and try to recruit more volunteers but Damon did not show up. He did not call or text so she decided to check up on him. She was nearby, anyway.

Downstairs, the doorman told her he was home. He knew her from the first couple of times she had been there with Damon. They were there once to pick up something and another time, Damon needed to change before they headed out again. Both times, she waited for him in his living room.

Honestly though, she did not like the place. It was cold, impersonal and too tidy. It was very spacious and sparsely furnished. She was sure the private decorator who worked on it would call it minimalistic.

She never said anything to Damon about it of course but she could not help wondering why he did not add anything personal to it like maybe a photograph or an old sentimental quilt, just whatever to make the place more livable.

Throughout the last couple of weeks, they had become much closer. They spent a lot of their time together doing charity and talking about everything and nothing but still she felt like there was an invisible wall between them… a wall that kept them from venturing into certain topics. One of those topics was his past. He sometimes mentioned snippets about his childhood, his mom and Stefan but never anything from his most recent past.

She did not press the subject because she had her own red zone topics. Consequently they kind of made a silent pact; not to touch upon any of those subjects when they talked and it worked fine.

The elevator doors opened into a spacious hallway that led to the kitchen and living room to the left. To the right, she assumed the bedroom or bedrooms were but she never ventured that way.

A sound of something being hit repeatedly followed her as she made her way through the hallway to the living room.

Two white leather couches faced one another in the middle of the living room with a glass coffee table in between. The far wall was made completely out of floor to ceiling windows and a big modern fireplace took up another wall. The kitchen made up the third wall and the fourth was occupied by an abstract painting kept in light colors. Everything was so light and polished like no one had ever lived there.

The hitting sound stopped suddenly.

"Damon!" She called.

She made her way back through the hallway and there he was approaching from the opposite side. Her jaw almost dropped. He was shirtless and sweaty and he was uncoiling white wraps from around his hands. Her mind jumped to all kinds of inappropriate scenarios and she struggled to grasp any coherent thought but somehow, she managed to remember that she was annoyed with him. Why was he working out when he was supposed to meet her?

"Elena, hey," he said.

"Hey, why are you not dressed?"

"I forgot, I'm sorry just give me ten minutes,"

He forgot? That was his excuse? "Fine, hurry," she just said instead.

"Make yourself at home," he shot before he turned around and went back the way he came from.

She sighed and went back to the living room. She sat on the couch and wiggled around a bit to try and get comfortable but the thing was hard as a rock. She gave up and stood up walking to the windows instead. The view was breathtaking and would probably become even more so at night but still, she could not quite enjoy it. She felt uneasy. Something was wrong with him. She saw it in his eyes.

She could always read his moods through his eyes. He mastered the art of keeping his face neutral but his eyes always gave him away.

Today they were stormy. The ocean blue of them was in uproar. Something was definitely wrong.

"Admiring the view?" He said from behind her and she jumped startled. She did not hear him coming.

He chuckled at her reaction as he came to stand next to her looking at the New York skyline.

"You don't have to come today," she said. She knew he was not very keen on the idea but she had talked him into it. Maybe he just did not want to go, she thought but did not actually believe that was it.

"We agreed to go so we're going, both of us," he said turning to face her.

There it was again; the inner conflict in his gaze. What was he conflicted about? The convention?

"Really, Damon it's no big deal. I can go alone." The conflict disappeared from his eyes. The only thing left was blind decision.

He came closer invading her personal space until there were only a couple of inches between them. What was going on? Her chest was heaving and she could not decide if she felt uncomfortable with his proximity or she just wanted him to close the space between them already. Unintentionally, her gaze dropped to his lips when he spoke again and she had a hard time figuring out what he was saying.

"Elena, I'm not letting you go alone. If we're going, we're going together."

His voice was low and her name rolled off his tongue, caressing it. God, what was wrong with her? She was still staring at his lips when his words finally sunk in and her muddled brain managed to make sense of them.

_Letting her_! Who the hell did he think he was to tell her what to do? She was perfectly capable of going places and doing things alone. She was not his to _let_.

She took her eyes back to his and gave him her most defiant look.

"I'm going alone if I want to," she said and tried to step back and away from him but he grabbed her by the elbows and tugged her even closer until she was standing flush against him. She felt every hard curve of his muscles against her own soft curves and her heart was beating like a bongo drum.

"You're not going alone. You're staying right here," He said in that deep voice and she felt the vibrations flow from his body into her own.

She was livid. He was full on ordering her around.

"Make me," she dared him.

For a number of heartbeats, they just stared each other down waiting for the other to succumb.

"Fine," he said in a breathy whisper.

Without any warning his lips captured hers and he was kissing her ferociously. His arms surrounded her and locked her into place and she found herself mirroring his actions. She was kissing him back just as fiercely letting her anger out on his lips, her hands grabbing wildly at his hair, her nails grazing his scalp.

They were fighting to get the upper hand. She pulled his hair and he groaned in pain or pleasure and bit down on her lower lip. She moaned. _God that felt good._ She felt her back hit glass as he pinned her against the window. He took her wrists and held them with one hand above her head as he used the other to lift her one leg around his waist.

He let go of her mouth for a moment and pushed his hips against hers and she felt his need growing for her. Then he plunged down nipping and kissing his way down her neck.

Her brain was gone, swimming in desire and sexual frustration. God, it felt good. She had not done it in so long and he was so good. She knew he was good because the last time she had sex was with him and he made it feel heavenly…

Wait…

The last time she had sex with him it felt great… for about three days then she started feeling guilty.

He was working on the buttons of her shirt, already half way through. This was escalating too quickly. She could not think.

She had to think.

"Stop," she said but her voice was too low and hoarse.

She cleared her throat and said it louder. "Stop, Damon."

She struggled to free her hands from his grasp and he seemed to notice because he stopped halfway through another button.

He brought his eyes back to her face and something in it must have woken him from the haze of desire. He let her hands go and took a step back. A stream of different expressions ran though his face. Rejection and guilt were in between.

"Elena…" He started but didn't finish.

She started straightening out her clothes, buttoning her shirt and running her hands through her hair. All the while she felt his gaze on her. She did not dare to look at him too much though because his hair was a mess, his lips were a darker shade of red and _God, he was gorgeous_. She did not trust herself to not be selfish with him again.

"Tell me something…" He said and she saw something flicker on his face as he went on. "Why did you sleep with me that night?"

How the hell did she answer that? She was not even sure why she did it?

"It was a mistake…" he looked like she had confirmed something he already knew but she went on unabated. "I shouldn't have used you like that. I'm so sorry."

He appeared surprised by her apology.

He scoffed. "You didn't _use_ me, Elena. I was fully on board. You didn't exactly force me into anything."

"I _did_ use you. I knew you were hurt, Damon and sex is a way for you to cope but I used your hurt to prove something to myself. I should have stopped after the kiss. I should have talked to you instead but I was selfish," she said finally voicing her guilt over that night. She had thought about this a lot and with their growing friendship, her guilt grew right along.

"Stop that," he said harshly and confusing her.

"Stop what?"

"Stop _pitying_ me. I don't need that. I don't want it." He said the word with so much hatred and she tried stop herself from thinking it was directed at her.

"I'm not pitying you. I'm apologizing for my mistake," she explained.

"Then stop apologizing."

"What would you have me do, Damon?" God, he was frustrating.

"Leave. I need you to leave now, please," he said in a softer tone but it felt like a slap to the face, nevertheless.

She nodded her head once to indicate she understood before she hurried past him heading for the elevator.

She reached the door and pressed the button to call the elevator wishing there was an actual door, she could walk out of because having to wait in a place she just got thrown out of was humiliating to say the least. She was not mad, though. She understood that he needed time to process.

She needed time too.

The elevator finally arrived and the door slid open with a loud ding. She stepped inside and the door was starting to close when she heard his voice.

"Elena, wait!"

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading. So here we got a little Delena-action but was it a mistake? Clearly, Elena thinks so. Was it hot? Was it not? What do you think? Also you got lots of new information about his relationship with Katherine. Was it like you expected? Did you like/hate it? Please don't hesitate to tell me what you think.


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